
Class 

Book. 

GopigM?. 



CORRIGHT DEPOSfT. 



THE WORKER AND WORK SERIES 

THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK. Frederica Beard 

THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK. Marion Thomas 

THE JUNIOR WORKER AND WORK. Josephine L. Baldwin 

LEADERS OF YOUTH (Intermediates and Seniors). Hugh H. Harris 

LEADERS OF YOUNG PEOPLE. Frank Wade Smith 

THE ADULT WORKER AND WORK. Wade Crawford Barclay 

THE SUPERINTENDENT. Frank L. Brown 

THE WORKER AND HIS CHURCH. Eric M. North 

THE WORKER AND HIS BIBLE. 

Frederick C. Eiselen and Wade Crawford Barclay 



The Worker and Work Series 

HENRY H. MEYER, Editor 



The 
Superintendent 

By 
FRANK L. BROWN 




THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



I 531 

p ^ to 



Copyright, 1922, by 
FRANK L. BROWN 



Printed io the United States of America 



JUN -9 1922 

©CI.A677044 



To My Friend 
JOHN WANAMAKER 
who, as a superintendent for more than sixty 
years of the bethany presbyterian sunday 
School of Philadelphia, has been the inspirer 
of untold numbers of superintendents in this 
and other lands, this book is affectionately 
dedicated 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 
V. 

VI. 

VII. 
VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 



PAGE 

Editor's Introduction 9 

Preface : 11 

The Institution IS 

The Superintendent 27 

The School Graded 39 

The School Equipped 47 

The School Organized 57 

The Administrative Staff 74 

Department Management 92 

The Educational Superintendent 118 

Program and Session 128 

Platform Instruction 152 

Sunday-School Music '. 168 

The Superintendent and His Teachers 182 

The Workers' Conference 195 

The Superintendent and the Pupil 207 

Recreation and Organizations 222 

The Superintendent and the Home 240 

The Week-Day Program 256 

Missions in the Sunday School 266 

Temperance and Purity in the Sunday 

School 281 

Social Service in the Sunday School 291 

Special Days in the School 300 

Evangelism in the Sunday School 332 

The Country and Village School 347 

The School's Upbuilding 365 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
To the Memory of Frank L. Brown 

The revision of The Superintendent, first written in 
1910, was the last work of authorship of Dr. Frank L. 
Brown. The task was completed while he was at Clifton 
Springs, New York, under medical care, in the late summer 
of 1921. As this book is in process of manufacture, the 
report of the author's death brings a sense of deep per- 
sonal loss to thousands of Sunday-school workers through- 
out the world. 

For several years past Dr. Brown has been general sec- 
retary of the World's Sunday School Association, directing 
its affairs with efficiency and constantly increasing its in- 
fluence throughout world-wide Protestantism. To Meth- 
odists, however, he is best known as the superintendent 
of the Bushwick Avenue Central Sunday School in Brook- 
lyn, a school that he founded as a mission and of which he 
was superintendent to the day of his death. His spiritual 
devotion, ceaseless activity, and enterprise made Bushwick 
Avenue Sunday School everywhere known not only as one 
of the largest but also as one of the best Sunday schools 
in Methodism. For years scarcely a Sunday passed with- 
out visitors, from one to a score or more, coming many of 
them from distant places to observe and learn. No alert 
observer ever went away without carrying with him some 
fruitful suggestion for the improvement of his own work. 
Into Bushwick Avenue Sunday School Frank L. Brown 
built his life and personality. It is a living monument 
that will endure. The Superintendent reflects very largely 
his own experience as superintendent. 

As a member from the time of its organization of the 
Board of Sunday Schools, of tfre Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions, of important committees of these and other organ- 
izations, and of several General Conferences Dr. Brown 
made a large contribution to modern Methodism. With all 
his usefulness as a Christian layman he will be best re- 

9 



10 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

membered by those who knew him intimately as a friend 
and brother. He was a lover of men, rich in those quali- 
ties of character which stand forth preeminently as marks 
of the Christian man. 

The history of executive and administrative offices in ed- 
ucation is distinctively modern. The teaching function 
may be traced from an early period of civilization, but the 
function of educational management, as a distinct field, is 
of very recent development. In the case of our American 
public schools the city superintendency is so new an office 
that as late as 1870 there were only twenty-seven such 
officials in the United States. Within the last few years 
the field and responsibility of supervising and managing 
officials both in the public schools and the church schools 
have been very largely increased. Colleges, normal schools, 
training schools, and other institutions are recognizing 
the importance of training for this type of leadership. 

But religious education has been slow in making plans 
for training in administrative work. This was greatly 
regretted by the author. By tongue and pen he urged in 
season and out the importance of training for Sunday- 
school superintendents. 

The author recognized that the ideal condition of Sun- 
day-school affairs would involve a thorough professional 
preparation for every superintendent. Even to give our 
superintendents the lesser advantage of short-term train- 
ing courses would be very desirable. But the actual situa- 
tion necessitates the service of a large number of volunteer 
superintendents, most of whom approach their task with- 
out even an apprentice training for their work. It was for 
these that Dr. Brown wrote The Superintendent. It is not 
intended primarily as a textbook in either the theory or 
practice of Sunday-school, administration. It is, rather, a 
handbook of method, a compendium for the guidance of 
(Superintendents in the multitude of greater and lesser 
J problems that come to them for solution. 

The Editors. 



PREFACE 

The importance of the office of the Sunday-school super- 
intendent has grown with the expansion of the Sunday 
school, with advance in its educational ideals, and with its 
increasingly important relation to the church, its com- 
munity touch and world-wide reach. 

The nearly 200,000 Sunday schools of this country are 
superintended by men and women who are among the 
busiest in the church. and community life, leaders sincerely 
anxious to make the most of their office and hungry for 
practical help, as much so as any of the office-bearers of the 
church. 

This book has been written out of the experience and ob- 
servation of thirty-five years of work as a superintendent, 
with the purpose of assisting my fellow superintendents, 
or those in training for service, in preparing for effective 
work. Not all the suggestions made or plans outlined may 
be applied in any one school. The ideals presented, how- 
ever, we trust, will not be found impracticable in any case. 

It takes most of us as superintendents many years to 
come to even an approximate completeness in results, for 
we are limited often as to equipment or helpers. The best 
superintendents are never satisfied with their work. The 
horizon is continually lifting and the vision broadening. 

The superintendent of the small school can have a school 
as complete and high in quality as the large city school, 
and usually more satisfactory in its results through the 
possibility of the individual touch. The supreme goal in 
Sunday-school work — the shaping of Christian character for 
the world's service — can be attained in the smallest school 
and under any limitations if there are atmosphere, love, 
prayer, patience, and persistent and tactful effort. 

Grateful acknowledgment for illustrative material in 
these pages is made to The Sunday School Journal, The 
Church School, and the Sunday School Executive. 

Prank L. Brown. 
11 



CHAPTER I 
THE INSTITUTION 

1. Aim and purpose of the Sunday school. Before 
the superintendent can know his task he should have clearly 
in mind the aim and purpose of the Sunday school and its 
place in relation to the home, the church, the community, 
the nation, and the world. He should know something of 
the Sunday-school movement and its important part in the 
shaping of individual and world character. 

Let us glance at a few of the great definitions of the Sun- 
day school in its aim and purpose: "The Sunday school is 
the world's greatest institution for popularizing the world's 
greatest Book." "The Sunday school is the Bible-teaching 
service of the church." "The Sunday school is an organ- 
ized and scientific effort for religious education." "The 
purpose of the Sunday school is to teach religious truth, 
chiefly through the Bible, for the formation and develop- 
ment of religious character." 1 "What, then, is the end of 
Sunday-school work? Character training for service in the 
extension of the Kingdom." "The function of the Sunday 
school is to grow souls possessed by Christ's passion to 
win souls. It should be keyed to the purpose of giving the 
gospel to every creature." 

F. B. Meyer, former president of the World's Sunday 
School Association, has said: "I received at the World's 
Sunday School Convention at Rome a new vision. If the 
world is ever to be saved, it must be saved through its 
childhood." Said Moody, "If we can save one generation of 
children, the devil will be out of business." Gladstone said, 
"Talk about the questions of the time; there is but one 
question — how to bring the truth's of God's Word into vital 

1 Clifton Conference. 

13 



14 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

contact with the minds and hearts of all classes of people." 
The Sunday school is recognized as the only institution that 
is equipped for this great task by reason of its organization, 
its personnel, and its great objectives. 

The Sunday school is rising splendidly to its opportunity 
through the perfecting of its organization, the development 
of its literature, the inclusion of all ages in its plans, the 
training of its workers, its use of a sane evangelism, its 
outreach into the community and the world. It is more 
and more commanding the respect of educators. It is en- 
listing in its voluntary service the fidelity, the intelligence, 
and the business genius of nearly two millions of Sunday- 
school officers and teachers in North America alone. It is 
rapidly increasing in numbers and efficiency. 

This will be the Sunday-school century. We are already 
in the swing of a Sunday-school movement that will lay a 
new moral foundation under the state, offset the influences 
that threaten our civilization, save the church from decay, 
bring religion back to the home, add a new vitality to 
Christian missions, and train leadership for service to the 
community, country, and world. 

2. Religious instruction previous to modern times. 
One of the earliest schools of religious instruction was 
formed in Abraham's household. Under Jehoshaphat the 
Levites went throughout the land instructing the people 
in the law. In the book of Nehemiah there is the account 
of a great open-air Bible school, with Ezra as superinten- 
dent. The order of service and list of assistants are given. 
Eighty years before Christ, Josephus tells us of what are 
practically Sabbath schools with Primary, Junior, and 
Senior Departments and graded instruction. 

In 1527 Martin Luther conducted Sunday schools in 
Germany, and about 1550 Carlo Borromeo was promoting 
Sunday schools in Milan, 743 existing in Italy at the time of 
his death. For more than two hundred years Sunday chil- 
dren's services have been held in Germany under the name 
of "children's divine service." There is a popular idea that 



THE INSTITUTION 15 

Robert Raikes started the first Sunday school in 1780; but 
Henry Clay Trumbull, in his Yale Lectures on the Sunday 
School, has pointed out that as early as 1560 a form of Sun- 
day school had been adopted by the General Assembly of 
the Church of Scotland. There are instances of Sunday- 
school work between this date and Robert Raikes* time at 
points in Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland, and America. 

3. The Raikes movement. Robert Raikes was born in 
Gloucester in 1736 and died in 1811. He started his first 
Sunday school in " Sooty" Alley, Gloucester, "and thereby 
began the creation of a new race out of the social waste" 
of his day. My grandmother frequently saw Raikes, a fine- 
looking Christian gentleman, and many times told me as 
a boy how he went about the streets of Gloucester talking 
with groups of children, smiling benevolently, and inviting 
them to his school, his hands lifting his coat tails mean- 
while. With Mrs. Bradburn, to whom, with three others, 
he paid a shilling a day, he would lead his groups of poor 
boys through the alleys, the street crowd shouting, "Bobby 
Wildgoose and his regiment." Owing to the character of 
the first pupils Raikes was called the "Founder of Ragged 
Schools," and because of this name and the social impli- 
cation involved, a prejudice has existed against the Sun- 
day school on the part of some in the church, especially 
in England, until comparatively recent times. These 
schools were not at first connected with the church. 
Raikes' plan was to assemble the children from ten to 
twelve in the forenoon. They assembled again at one, "and 
after reading a lesson they were • conducted to church. 
After church they were employed in repeating the catechism 
till half-past five and then dismissed with the injunction 
to go home without making a noise and by no means to 
play in the street." The movement grew unexpectedly to 
great popularity. Within a few years 250,000 were en- 
rolled in the schools of Great Britain alone; and William 
Pitt, the premier of Great Britain, who was opposed to 
popular education, even threatened to suppress the Sunday 



16 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

schools by a Parliamentary act, but was dissuaded by en- 
thusiastic friends of the new movement. The Religious 
Tract Society of London, the London and Church Mis- 
sionary Societies, and the British and Foreign Bible Society 
were inspired by the Raikes Sunday-school movement. 
John Wesley was quick to discover the value of the new 
movement and in 1784 wrote: "Perhaps God may have a 
deeper end therein than men are aware. Who knows but 
what some of these schools may become the nurseries for 
Christians ?" 

The Sunday School Union of London, founded in 1803, is 
the oldest Sunday-school organization. Its helpful work 
has extended to all parts of the British Empire. 

4. The Sunday-school movement in America. While 
to Bishop Francis Asbury is commonly given the credit 
of organizing the first Sunday school in America, in the 
house of Thomas Grenshaw, Hanover County, Virginia, 
in 1786, there are instances of much earlier efforts, even as 
far back as 1632, when John Eliot, the preacher to the In- 
dians, established in the First Church of Roxbury, Massa- 
chusetts, a "practice for training up youth/' using the 
catechism and Bible. 

The American Sunday School Union, established in 1824, 
was a merger of unions at New York, Philadelphia, and 
Boston, which were organized somewhat earlier. One hun- 
dred and thirty-five thousand Sunday schools have been 
established through the work of its missionaries in 104 
years of work, especially in the West and Far West; and its 
good work is still going on. 

The Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was organized in 1827, reporting at the first annual 
meeting 251 auxiliary societies, 1,025 schools, 10,290 teach- 
ers, and 63,240 scholars. It passed through several stages 
of amalgamation with other unrelated church interests, 
finally emerging from the General Conference of 1908 as a 
separate organization known as the Board of Sunday 
Schools, with headquarters in Chicago. The Sunday-school 



THE INSTITUTION 17 

membership reported at the General Conference of 1920 was 
4,467,500. The Sunday-school work of other denominations 
is carried on through Sunday-school, educational, and pub- 
lication boards and societies, which in many cases use the 
profits on Sunday-school publications in extending the de- 
nominational Sunday-school work through field and area 
educational secretaries. The combined official denomina- 
tional Sunday-school editorial, secretarial, and publication 
interests are represented in the Sunday School Council of 
Evangelical Denominations. 

The International Sunday School Association grew out of 
interdenominational Sunday-school conventions, the first 
one of which was held in the city of New York in 1832. 
These conventions were held irregularly until 1869, from 
which time they have been held triennially. The Inter- 
national Uniform Lessons were adopted at the Indianapolis 
Convention, in 1872. The International Graded Lessons 
were adopted at the Louisville Convention in 1908. The In- 
ternational Association has promoted Sunday-school growth 
and improved methods through annual conventions, its 
secretarial force, its literature, and through its auxiliary 
associations in the States, provinces, and counties of North 
America, including adjacent islands. There are in North 
America, according to the report at the Buffalo Convention 
(1918), 195,343 schools, 1,874,705 officers and teachers, and 
18,763,649 scholars. 

The World's Sunday School Association is a development 
of the various world's conventions, beginning with the one 
held in London in 1889, the succeeding conventions being 
held in Saint Louis, London, Jerusalem, Rome, Washing- 
ton, Zurich, and Tokyo. At the Rome Convention, with 
more than 1,100 delegates present, the World's Sunday 
School Association was organized to promote Sunday-school 
organization, conventions, and literature, gather statistics, 
and to cooperate with other associations in advancing Sun- 
day-school standards throughout the whole world. Its 
specific purpose is to give a Sunday-school vision to the 



18 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

workers in foreign fields and to give a missionary vision 
to the schools in the home field. As the result of confer- 
ences with the denominational mission and Sunday-school 
boards representatives of these boards are officially ap- 
pointed upon the Executive Committee of the World's Sun- 
day School Association. The Foreign Mission Conference 
of North America appoints twelve of these representatives, 
and the Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denomina- 
tions six. 

5. The relation of the Sunday school to the church. 
The Sunday school of to-day is the church of to-morrow. 
Church statesmanship and the wisest strategy will con- 
serve the mighty possibilities of the Sunday school. "What- 
ever you would have appear in the life of the church must 
first be put into the Sunday school." The Sunday school 
is not the nursery of the church. In the modern form, as 
the church school, the Bible-studying service of the entire 
church, it is entitled to and is receiving all ages into its 
membership. It is regrettable that the Sunday school was 
first started as an institution apart from the church, for 
this fact for some years divested the church of a direct 
responsibility for it, and there are not a few belated min- 
isters even in this day who persist in keeping the church 
and Sunday school apart and are rarely found at the Sun- 
day-school service. In many cases, even where the school 
has been recognized, it is still regarded as a children's 
affair. The tremendous national interest in religious edu- 
cation, the organized-adult-class movement, and the new 
interpretation of the Sunday school's value and mission 
have awakened a remarkable interest in the Sunday school 
on the part of the church. And with good reason. What 
are the facts? The dividends from the Sunday schools in- 
clude 95 per cent of the preachers, 85 per cent of the church 
converts, 95 per cent of the church workers, and 75 per cent 
of the churches organized. And this in the face of the fact 
that pastors and parents are not giving more than 10 per 
cent of their time to the Sunday school, and the church 



THE INSTITUTION 19 

not more than 10 per cent of its income, and that the theo- 
logical seminaries have until recently put but trifling em- 
phasis upon Sunday-school training of pastors. In other 
words about 90 per cent of return has come from 10 per 
cent of investment. 

The Sunday school, of all religious agencies, includes the 
largest number of persons at a time of life easiest to reach, 
and when life, if consecrated, will tell the most and longest 
for God and the race. It has the largest number of trained 
workers. President Mullen has said, "The whole trend of 
my observation, study, and experience has shown me that 
in most cases the Sunday school is the most fundamental 
thing in church work." The startling fact is that the ad- 
ditions to the church membership, aside from the Sunday 
school and the direct influence of the Sunday school upon 
the homes, probably do not exceed 10 per cent of the total. 
And this despite expensive and strenuous revival efforts. 
If the church were wise and invested its energy and money 
in holding in the Sunday school and bringing to Christ its 
young people from twelve to twenty, its problems would be 
largely solved. For God speaks most certainly to the life 
during these strategic years, and young people can then be 
easily molded as workers. It is church folly akin to crime 
to permit these young people to slip from under the direct 
influence and training of the church by failing to use the 
Sunday-school opportunity of holding and reaching them. 

.What should be the relation of the church to the Sunday 
school? It should regard the Sunday school as an essential 
part of itself and provide generously for its equipment and 
support. It should supervise its organization and charac- 
ter of work, through its own committee on religious edu- 
cation. In church construction first thought should be 
given to the proper housing of the Sunday school, with 
provision for departmental division and instruction and 
for recreation. 

Theological seminaries should plan that candidates for 
the ministry should have an adequate course in religious 



20 THE SUPERINTENDENT 



pedagogy and church-school management, including labora- 
tory work in practice Sunday schools. 

The pastor and the church officials should be found in 
the Sunday school as workers or members. 

Provision should be made by the church for the week-day 
life of the young people to link their interest and preempt 
their whole life for Christ and the church. "Every member 
of the church a member of some department of the Sunday 
school" should be the objective of the church. The church 
may well provide for a paid superintendency where the 
conditions favor the investment of the superintendent's 
entire time. It should give an adequate opportunity to 
every pupil to enter the Christian life. The church should 
provide for the spiritual culture of the young in Christian 
life and service. It should plan for a leadership-training 
class in which young people shall be trained through special 
courses as church and Sunday-school officers, and as lead- 
ers in missions, social service, recreation, and evangelism. 
It should educate its young people in the spirit of giving. 

It is not fair to the Sunday school to tack its session of 
one hour or less to the end of the church session and expect 
it to make its needed religious and educational impress 
upon its members. Time is needed for this important work, 
and the day may not be far distant when the church will 
surrender one of its preaching services, making it the Bible- 
teaching service of the entire church. This would magnify 
the Sunday-school work, give the pastor opportunity for 
definite service in the Sunday school, and not oblige the 
faithful Sunday-school worker to attend three services. on 
a Sabbath. It would solve the question, too, of adequate 
time; and while we may not be ready in a voluntary work 
for a three-hour Sunday-school session, as contended for 
by a contributor to the Educational Review, yet a longer 
session than the present average is obligatory for best work. 
Many schools are placing their sessions on Sunday after- 
noon as a solution of the time problem and to provide 
against the temptation to waste the afternoon of the Sab- 






THE INSTITUTION 21 

bath in doubtful ways. The week-day religious school as 
supplemental to the Sunday session is discussed later and 
is the answer, in good measure, to the question of sufficient 
time for the educational program of the church. It is al- 
together probable that the fully developed Sunday school 
of the future will be an all-inclusive institution, the center 
of the church's Bible study and of all its social and other 
activities. 

6. Sunday school and community. The Sunday school 
is the* only institution supplying systematic religious edu- 
cation both to young and old. Its duty is therefore to 
reach the entire community with its invitation and message. 
This it should do through advertisement, systematic visita- 
tion, circularizing, and personal invitation, by meetings of 
parents, by providing for the social life of the community, 
and by organizing for benevolent work. "The Bible by the 
hands of the living teacher to every man, woman, and child 
in the State" is the motto of one State organization. This 
purpose crystallizes what should be the plan in every com- 
munity. The Sunday school saves the community by pro- 
moting right moral standards, by saving the young from 
becoming criminals, and by supplying the highest motives 
for wholesome community interest. Practical methods of 
community work will follow in Chapter XX. 

7. Sunday school and home. The failure, in large part, 
of the home religiously to train the young is responsible for 
the evolution of the Sunday school. The Sunday school 
should not be a substitute for the home in matters of re- 
ligious instruction, but supplementary to it, as in the train- 
ing of Jewish children. Gradually, through the Home De- 
partment and the attendance of adults upon the Sunday 
school and church, a new religious vitality will come into 
the home life. The Sunday school will still have its place 
as the social center for the young and as a place for broader 
study of the Book in its relation to Christian training for 
service, the home and school acting and reacting upon each 
other in the promotion of the rounded character. This is 



22 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

the ideal. The home must be educated to its rightful task, 
and through the child we have an open-sesame in the ac- 
complishment of this work. Plans of cooperation between 
school and home are suggested in Chapter XVI. 

8. Sunday school and public school. "Education is 
not the training of an intelligence but the development and 
inspiration of a soul." J. P. Monroe says, "The question 
to be asked at the end of an educational step is not 'What 
has the child learned?' but 'What has the child become?'" 
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia University, has 
said, "Education is a gradual adjustment to the spiritual 
possessions of the race," and in the further discussion he 
states that the religious inheritance is one to which every 
child is entitled. 

Theoretically the public school aims to produce a rounded 
life equipped for service to the community and the state. 
But by the elimination of the Bible from the public school 
the dynamic in character making is gone, and the com- 
pletion of the educational process is thrown back upon the 
character of the teacher. And where there is no religious 
test applied in the selection of teachers, the results to the 
pupil are necessarily unsatisfactory in the production of 
character. "The teacher's life is the life of his teaching." 
America is committed, apparently irrevocably, for weal or 
woe, to exclusively secular education in the public schools. 
Professor Brumbaugh says, "Any country that fails to give 
the training religiously that it does mentally is on the way 
to ruin." As religious instruction is essential to the life 
of any nation, we are forced to the use of the Sunday school 
as the recognized channel of religious instruction or to 
denominational week-day schools, which are not likely to 
obtain favor in competition with the public-school system. 

In view of the fact, therefore, that the Sunday school 
and the public school are twin factors in the needed educa- 
tion of the child, the relation between the two should be 
sympathetic and cooperative. Each has something to learn 
of the other. In increasing numbers Christian public- 



THE INSTITUTION 23 

school teachers and educators are in the Sunday school, as- 
sisting in the development of its curriculum and in its 
work. 

In a fair comparison of the work of the public school and 
Sunday school, taking into account the weight of public 
authority behind the public school and its paid teaching 
force, tests of work in each, the country over, will show that 
the Sunday school is doing proportionally efficient work. 

9. Sunday school and national life. The morale of 
the forces in the Great War was kept at a high mark largely 
through the Christian character of so large a proportion 
of the number serving and the contacts afforded through 
the local Sunday school and church in the homeland. The 
nearly 200,000 Sunday schools in America were centers of 
Red Cross and other war activities. 

Senator Sherman of Illinois says, "No good government 
can be had, and especially popular government, unless the 
people shall live under the wholesome influence of spiritual 
forces." President Harding said: "The future of the na- 
tion cannot be trusted to the children unless their educa- 
tion includes their spiritual development. It is time, there- 
fore, that we give our attention to the religious instruction 
of the children of America, not in the spirit of intolerance, 
nor to emphasize distinctions or controversies between 
creeds or beliefs, but to extend religious teaching to all 
in such form that conscience is developed, and duty to one's 
neighbor and to God is understood and fulfilled." 

Other national leaders emphasize this same need and the 
Sunday school as essential to the national life. "I chal- 
lenge the gentlemen present to name any institution that 
means so much for the safety and prosperity of our coun- 
try as does the Sunday school" (John W. Foster). "The 
Sunday school is one of the greatest institutions of to-day. 
As a school of religious instruction it is inestimable; as a 
civil institution it is priceless." (Daniel Webster.) "Our 
navy cannot save this country, our army cannot save this 
•country, our public schools cannot save this country; but 



24 THE SUPERINTENDENT 






Sunday schools can do it, sown thick as schoolhouses 
throughout the land" (General Rutherford). "Education in 
things spiritual and moral is most necessary to the making 
of the highest type of citizenship" (Theodore Roosevelt). 
"We shall maintain our liberties only by the religious edu- 
cation of our youth" (George Washington). "America has 
been practically saved to Protestant Christianity by the 
Sunday school" (Trumbull). 

To the influences generated by the Sunday school we 
are indebted for many of our strong national leaders — men 
whose names are household words. The prohibition victory 
in our land had its origin in the seed planted in the thou- 
sands of Sunday schools a generation ago. The children 
and grandchildren of immigrants obtain new ideals of 
personal and home life through their absorption of Sunday- 
school teaching. The Sunday school is the strongest bul- 
wark of our American Sabbath. 

Justice Brewer said: "This American nation, from its 
first settlement at Jamestown to the present hour, is 
based upon and permeated by the principles of the Bible. 
The one who is engaged in bringing this Bible to the people 
is a patriot. If it were possible for any organization or 
number of organizations so to take this Bible and send it 
through the land that its teachings and precepts could be 
brought home to the people, the results would be grander 
than all the victories won in all the wars since the begin- 
ning of time." The Sunday school lays a moral and re- 
ligious foundation under the home, and the home is the 
unit of a perfect national civilization. 

10. Relation to missions and international affairs. 
"It is the whole business of the whole church to bring the 
gospel to the whole world as soon as possible," said Trum- 
bull; and, again, the purpose of the Sunday school is 
"character training for service in the extension of the King- 
dom." 

The missionary givers and the givers of to-morrow are in 
the Sunday school of to-day. It is the Sunday school's 



THE INSTITUTION 25 

privilege to direct and cultivate the missionary passion 
through program, pageantry, music, information, mission- 
ary library, and direct appeal. 

It is significant of God's purpose that at the very time 
when missionary education in the American Sunday schools 
is being so earnestly promoted, the whole world is opening 
to missionary opportunity. This is due to the reaction to 
spiritual values from materialism and the bloodshed of the 
war; the separation of church and state in such fields as 
South America and Europe; the conviction in such highly 
educated countries as Japan that education does not of 
itself produce character; the breakdown of the old re- 
ligions under the test of education and science. 

The World's Sunday School Convention in Tokyo in 
October, 1920, gave a great impulse to the conviction of 
both national and missionary leaders that the Sunday 
school was essential to the future life of the church and 
state in the foreign field. The high valuation placed by 
Christ and his church upon the child was emphasized at 
that convention in pageantry, exhibit, and address. It was 
clearly seen that the strategy in world winning and recon- 
struction was along the pathway of the child and the Sun- 
day school. 

It is increasingly recognized that the Sunday school is 
a vital factor in international relations because of its inter- 
denominational, international, and interracial character. 
The task for Sunday-school leaders in all countries is to 
promote the world mind and the sense of close inter- 
relationship and interdependence. Leaders in both America 
and England are seeing that the Sunday school, highly de- 
veloped and organized, will be a most potent factor in driv- 
ing back the tide of bolshevism, which since the war has 
threatened Christianity and the stability of democratic in- 
stitutions. W. T. Ellis, the publicist, says, ''The Sunday 
school should substitute Christian democracy for the non- 
Christian hatred which is sweeping over the face of the 
earth." 



26 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Benjamin Kidd, whose book The Science of Power has 
had such wide reading, says in the closing paragraphs of 
the last chapter: "O you blind leaders who seek to convert 
the world by labored disputation! Step out of the way, or 
the world must fling you aside. Give us the young, give us 
the young, and we will create a new mind and a new earth 
in a single generation. ,, 

Bibliography 

Sunday School Movement in America, M. C. Brown. 
Outline History of Religious Education, Meyer. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The advisability of substituting the Sunday-school 
service for one of the preaching services. 

2. The Sunday school as an all-inclusive institution for 
Christian training and activity. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What are the aim and the purpose of the Sunday 
school? 

2. Name the principal historical steps leading up to the 
Raikes movement. 

3. When was the Raikes school founded? Give a few 
facts concerning that movement. 

4. What is the origin and work of the International Sun- 
day School Association? 

5. What has the Sunday school done for the church? 

6. What should the church do for the Sunday school? 

7. How can the Sunday school help the community? 

8. What part has the home and what the Sunday school 
in religious education? 

9. How can the Sunday school contribute to the national 
life? 

10. How can the Sunday school and public school co- 
operate in attaining the real end of education? 

11. What is its opportunity as an international factor? 



CHAPTER II 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 

1. On the threshold of his task. He has been elected 
superintendent; it may be, thrust into office to fill a gap, 
persuaded by the pastor or the nominating committee, with- 
out training or special preparation. If this is his position, 
it is the experience of thousands of his brethren. It may 
be that this push is the divine call to him. 

He has probably been selected because he has done 
things; because of some grace of mind, or heart, or soul; 
because something of executive strength or professional 
or business or church success marks him out from his 
fellows. 

Surely the superintendent must needs feel that, as truly 
as prophet or pastor, he is divinely called to his work. 
From whatever source that call comes, he must know an 
inner response that recognizes the Shepherd's voice and 
moves out after the lambs and sheep of the fold and those 
not of the fold. 

His sense of a divine call will make him a man of prayer. 
He must pray for guidance and wisdom on the threshold 
of a task in which, by his personality, example, word, and 
work, he may become a powerful molding force in the lives 
of young people, when life is in the making. And the power 
of his life will consist in the clearness of the prayer atmos- 
phere. 

He will measure himself and his task. Perhaps he has 
overestimated himself because he has not rightly compre- 
hended his task. He may have taken the false measure- 
ments of the anxious nominators that "it would only take 
an hour on Sunday." But when he gets squarely in the 
saddle and surveys the field — the throbbing life, its far 
reach, the necessity of organizing and directing the school 

27 



28 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

and community, Sunday and week-day, for a pure home 
life, high citizenship, and a part in world conquest 
through the mighty weapon of the Word — he will either re- 
linquish his task or will steadily grow to his vision, dis- 
covering capacities, overcoming difficulties, determining 
to make his work the best as to quality and \he largest 
possible as to quantity. His work involves devising and 
carrying forward satisfactory plans as to instruction, the 
training of teachers, the attachment of the pupil and the 
home to Christ and the church, the spiritual nurture of 
growing lives, provision for the week-day life of the pupil, 
and the ingathering of those without. This perspective of 
his work will give direction and point to his efforts. It will 
drive him to prayer. It will ally him with Christ. 

The superintendent who has caught a vision of his task 
has a great chance to make his personality and plans count 
for large things. There is no other possible investment of 
his life where the results are so impressive, and where 
the present and future satisfaction is so great. "Where 
anything is growing, one former is worth a thousand re- 
formers." He who stands at the threshold of young life 
to put upon it the touch that will mold for all the years 
stands in a place of power. But he who would make this 
investment must first have a Christlike personality, what- 
ever his native gifts. For this he will strive and pray. 
This, after all, is the primary essential. Peculiarly is this 
true of the Sunday school, in which success depends so 
largely on spirit communicated from superintendent to 
teacher, pupil, home, and community. 

2. His training. With the increasing importance of 
the Sunday school to the church and community there is a 
growing demand, especially from the larger churches in the 
cities, for paid superintendents and directors of religious 
education, who can give their entire time to the organiza- 
tion and direction of the school in its Sunday and week-day 
activities. And where a church has sufficient resources this 
is highly desirable; for a live superintendent can make his 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 29 

worth felt in building up church membership and finances 
and in increasing the impact of the church upon the homes 
of the community. Besides theological seminaries that are 
giving courses for the specific preparation of such workers 
there are schools that give laymen the opportunity for a 
practical training for the work of the superintendency. We 
are asking for trained teachers: why not trained superin- 
tendents? We require that engineers who drive the cargoes 
of human freight shall be trained and licensed: why not 
those who so largely direct eternal destinies? 

The work is increasingly complex, and more and more 
superintendents who are experts will be demanded. True, 
it is not possible, owing to the limitations of family and 
business, for many of the nearly two hundred thousand 
superintendents who preside over the Sunday schools of 
our country to take special courses away from home. But 
every man can build up a little library of best books about 
him which will broaden his horizon. He can subscribe to 
a few superintendents' helps, he can attend conventions or 
local institutes to get inspiration and ideas, he can visit 
other schools to absorb new plans, he can grow bigger with 
every year. Courses for the training of Sunday-school ex- 
ecutives have been prepared, and information as to these 
courses can be obtained upon application to the Sunday- 
school board of your denomination or to the office of the 
State or provincial Sunday-school association. 

When, thirty-five years ago, the writer was thrust out 
from the teaching of a class in a city Sunday school, where 
there were no special ideals of Sunday-school work, to or- 
ganize a mission in a new district and to take its superin- 
tendency, there were two books that started him thinking 
and planning. These were The Modern Sunday School, by 
John H. Vincent, and The Model Superintendent, which is 
the life story of Henry P. Havens. Every superintendent 
must at least know his workshop and something of the 
history, purpose, opportunity, and destiny of the Sunday 
school. 



30 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

3. His relation to the church. In the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church the superintendent is nominated annually by 
the local Sunday-school board and confirmed by the quar- 
terly conference at its first session after the nomination. 
The pastor is ex officio chairman of the local Sunday-school 
board. He may prefer that the superintendent preside — 
and I find that most superintendents desire to preside. In 
either case there should be the fullest consultation between 
them as to matters to be proposed before the board for 
conference or action. 

In progressive denominations the present plan is to ap- 
point a church committee of religious education, of which 
the superintendent should be a member, to develop a com- 
prehensive plan of religious education, including all the 
church organizations. This committee should have mem- 
bership in the Sunday-school board and should supervise 
the curriculum, training work, and expressional activities 
of the school. 

As the representative of the church the superintendent 
is entitled to the cooperation and presence in the school of 
the official board. It has placed him in office through its 
confirmatory vote, and its members can bind the church and 
school in a vital way through their attendance. Few in- 
stances of school failure can be adduced where the mem- 
bers of the official board are all related to some part of 
the Sunday school. 

The church should dignify the office by publicly installing 
the superintendent. Such a service will give him wings for 
his work. 

The superintendent's report to the official board or church 
quarterly meeting is an opportunity to tie the church to 
the Sunday-school program. He should be free to nominate, 
in consultation with the pastor, his department superin- 
tendents, committees, and teachers, subject to confirmation 
by the Sunday-school board. If he is chargeable with re- 
sponsibility for results, he must be given a large voice in 
the selection of those upon whom he must rely for the pro- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 31 

duction of those results. The superintendent's relation to 
the pastor, pupil, teacher, home, and community is to be 
dealt with more fully in subsequent chapters. 

4. His equipment. The superintendent should be su- 
premely a man of heart, a lover of children, a friend of 
everybody. He is a helper and guide and servant of all, 
not a boss. "I am in the midst of you as he that serveth." 
He prays daily for himself, his own home, the teachers, the 
pupils, the community, and the world, and as individually 
as possible. It is assumed that he is a Christian, not neces- 
sarily a perfect Christian. Few of us would care to lay 
claim to that. But he is a man with love for Christ and 
his fellows, who will grow bigger and better as he gets his 
shoulder under the load and puts his heart into his work. 
He should love his Bible. While it would be of great value 
if he were a Bible student, he may be highly successful 
through securing a better trained man or woman for the 
educational work and devote his own energies to the de- 
velopment of the organization and the spirit of the in- 
stitution. 

He remembers that his Master was misunderstood, and 
that the world did not grow up to his ideals until after he 
had gone. And this gives him patience. He is a man of 
principle, not of expediency, and keeps his school running 
on this ideal. He is a Sunday-school optimist and enthusi- 
ast, and so things go, glow, and grow. "Enthusiasm is hope 
in action." He is not necessarily a good talker or a man of 
large teaching ability but has some executive ability and 
common sense, is cheery and courteous, reverent, tactful, 
prompt, persevering, and wins the cooperation of others. 
He is a man of system, of neatness in his work and in his 
personal appearance, and his school unconsciously takes its 
cue from him. 

He seeks to be what he desires his pupils and teachers 
to be. 

What we are daily sowing in self-discipline we shall reap 
in the failure or success of our work. What is in use will 



32 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

out, in spite of tricks and masks. Genuine souls tell, and 
no hypocrisy can mock or circumvent them. If we mean to 
train disciples of Christ, we must march the whole road 
ourselves. If we would mold living sculpture, we must 
first fashion our implements out of purity and simplicity, 
love and trust. We are watched, we are studied, we are 
searched through and through, by those we undertake to 
lead. (Bishop Huntington.) 

If not a born superintendent he can be "born again" if he 
will insist upon it and will put faith in himself, in others, 
and in his task. "If you insist on being a worm, be a glow- 
worm and let your light shine." He is a believer in the 
"go ye" of Christ and therefore loves missions. He is an 
attendant at the church prayer meeting and encourages his 
teachers and pupils to go. He loves souls and hard work. 
Nothing can possibly take the place of these. Although 
a man of vision, his feet are on the earth. He sticks to his 
job in all weather. "Nowhere in the Bible are found the 
words 'Be successful/ The Book only bids us 'Be faithful/ " 
(Lawrance.) He is constructed on the short-meter plan in 
prayer, notices, and review. He is snappy in the best sense, 
quick in emergencies, firm but kind. If a new superinten- 
dent he will have patience the first year, as others will need 
to have patience with him. Beyond the first year of 
adjustment lie the years of confidence, better understand- 
ing, and growth. He is a believer in his denomination 
and loyal to it; but gets a high enough vision of the re- 
lation of his denomination to the Kingdom to reduce fences 
to lines on the map. 

Dr. Joseph Clark has put some of the superintendent's 
qualities pithily as follows: 

Wanted: A high type, manly Christian man, one whom 
children love, girls admire, boys worship, women honor, 
young men revere, and men respect; a man of religion with- 
out cant, of piety without softness, of righteousness without 
hypocrisy; a man of pure thought, clean life, and unstained 
hands; a broad man with Kingdom vision, who keeps step 
with world-wide religious activities; a man to whom his 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 33 

high calling is an avocation, not a task; who creates an epi- 
demic of sociability and good cheer wherever he goes; a 
man who is on the still hunt three hundred and sixty-five 
days of each year for the best things for his school; one 
who is ever quietly busy at soul saving and soul culturing; 
a man who would rather superintend a Sunday school than 
do anything else on earth; a man who prays to be re- 
tained in office while efficient and to be retired when no 
longer at his best; a man who will not make his retirement 
from the superintendency the springboard for a leap into 
the oblivion of religious inactivity; a man who after re- 
tirement takes his place in some subordinate position in 
the vineyard and sweetly exerts an influence of helpfulness 
toward his successor; a man for Sunday-school superin- 
tendent — not an angel but a man of whom his fellows will 
say, "Rabbi, thou art a leader sent from God." 

5. The things he avoids. Our superintendent does not 
despair when some pet plan is vetoed but waits for folks 
to grow up to the plan, if a good one, and starts a system of 
personal education of others to its approval. He does not 
take responsibility if in doubt as to the wisdom of a course 
but shares by consultation with other officers or with the 
Sunday-school board. While he chases his ideal he does 
not in doing so lose touch with his constituency; does not 
lose his temper on the platform, because he knows he will 
lose his influence with it. Scolding and scalding are near 
relatives. He does not think he knows it all — unless he has 
just started in the superintendency. He will be harvesting 
Sunday-school information all his life. He does not work 
by the clock but by the beat of his heart. He never does 
anything himself that he can get another to do nearly as 
well. He does not give the notices out twice in exactly the 
same way but cultivates variety and surprise. He does not 
kill off the attendance of the older boys and girls by ad- 
dressing the school as "dear children. " He does not sur- 
render to a chance visitor the precious closing moments of 
the school. In matters of doubtful habits or practices he 
asks, "What would Jesus do?" He does not ride hobbies, 
whether music, teacher training, or special days, but seeks 



34 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

to develop the school symmetrically. Having signed his en- 
listment papers, he does not resign whenever his corns are 
stepped on. Said a prominent Sunday-school worker, "I 
have no feelings in Sunday-school work; I have a rhinoceros 
hide." Our superintendent does not expect ever to be satis- 
fied with attainment. If you have ideals, your horizon will 
keep lifting. "Never discouraged and never satisfied." Our 
superintendent does not keep in a rut until it becomes a 
grave. He does not scold others for going to sleep under his 
leadership but wakes himself up first. He does not get mad 
at honest criticism but grows under it. He learns something 
even from kickers. He does not usually teach a class. He 
can do more through observation and cooperation than 
through lesson teaching. He does not do it all, but, hav- 
ing committed the work to others, lets them finish the job 
and makes the most of their work. He does not allow teach- 
ers to be interrupted by anybody when launched upon the 
lessons. 

6. The superintendent in action. Our superintendent 
has a notebook in which he registers new plans and sug- 
gestions; suggestions for special days; keeps a record of 
school attendance, teachers' names and addresses, and a list 
of prospective workers. While the lesson is being taught, 
he uses his feet and eyes, notes weak points, and makes lib- 
eral notes for later use. He refers cases of sick and stray- 
ing to proper committees. He advertises regularly school 
news, special days, and coming events through the school 
paper, the local press, and special printed matter. He has 
a night memorandum pad and pencil for some plan or 
thought that may come in wakeful hours. He gets another 
to absorb and propose his plan in the Sunday-school board 
rather than spring it himself. He knows that the best 
reducer of the ice of difficulty is a sunshiny smile. He 
knows the magnetic power of a handshake. He keeps ever- 
lastingly at it in summer and winter. He adopts some 
plans, adapts others. He views things from the standpoint 
of teachers and pupils. He gives his assistant superin- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 35 

tendents a chance at the platform for the sake of variety 
and training. He is open and keeps open for suggestion 
and criticism. He frequently meets his teachers in prayer 
before or after the school. He makes use on occasions of 
special teachers' and pupils' prayer gatherings. He makes 
of his Sunday-school work not an incident but a business. 
He knows, if it is worth doing at all, it is tremendously 
worth doing. He knows why his pupils leave the school. 
He anticipates trouble in the sense of preventing it. He 
keeps in view that he is training citizens for this world 
as well as for the world to come. He will give his pupils 
a world vision of the reach and opportunities of the Sunday 
school. He is on the lookout for pupils who may be de- 
veloped as workers for the local task and the broader field. 
He watches newcomers in the church for new teachers and 
new Sunday-school members. He builds up a substitute list. 
While chary of making promises he sees that every 
promise when made is faithfully kept. He makes the Chris- 
tian life appear wholesome to present-day boys and girls, 
as the supreme thing in character making and life success, 
and not a soft, effeminate something that wilts manhood 
and womanhood and shies off every full-blooded boy and 
girl. He avoids "holy tones." He expects order and re- 
sults. He creates atmosphere. He takes time to prepare. 
He has his program completed to the last dot before leav- 
ing home. He comes from his knees to the school. This 
preparation gives him confidence and power. He begins on 
time if he has to talk and sing to himself. He keeps in 
view that the great objective is to form character, and not 
to entertain, and makes lessons, songs, talk, and prayers 
all bear on that objective. His best work is ever ahead. 
Thorvaldsen, who sculptured the "Lion of Lucerne/' when 
asked what was his greatest work, replied, "My next/' 
When we lean on our past we cease to grow. Our super- 
intendent keeps his individuality in the work, but an in- 
dividuality trimmed of unpleasant angles, markedly cour- 
teous, and molded and fused on the divine plan of kindli- 



36 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ness and love. He plans for the training of his workers 
through correspondence study and other training courses. 
He knows that he touches his pupils best through the 
trained teacher. He keeps the bones of the work out of 
sight. In putting others at work he saves himself for 
points of special need. 

He sends a personal birthday greeting to his teachers and 
officers. They are his class. He should keep close to them. 
He makes sure that the new pupil is welcomed and the 
home visited. He sees that his pupils are remembered 
through a birthday message. 

He knows that the devil is often in league with the sexton 
in matters of ventilation. He knows that "Do" is a bigger, 
better word than "Don't/' and "Come" than "Go." He uses 
the lever of commendation to build up. He gets into some 
superintendents' union if possible, and exchanges plans. 
He knows that his Sunday school must stand foursquare on 
its spiritual, social, mental, and physical pillars, and plans 
for all these lines for his young people. He has a "sugges- 
tion box" for good Sunday-school ideas from pupils and 
teachers and gives credit for them. He lets people know 
that he is always accessible. He gives every pupil a square 
chance to acknowledge and follow Christ. He is forever 
at school himself, learning from Christ, from others, and, 
from his own mistakes. He puts his best energies into the 
building up of the school at its weak points. He knows that 
the strong points will take care of themselves. He helps 
his teachers to a larger vision and brightens his teachers' 
meetings by having a chapter from some live Sunday-school 
book read at each gathering. He wins the cooperation of 
parents and plans for their visitation and ingathering. He 
spends an hour or more weekly with his records and learns 
much from them. He plans conferences with teachers, 
officers, and committees, and keeps them inspired through 
good literature. He gets his work on his heart and mind 
seven days a week and overtime on Sundays. He individual- 
izes the' pupils as much as possible in work and recognition. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 37 

He knows that homemade appliances are often better than 
store goods, and that a blackboard, even if used but poorly, 
carries further than his speech. He dreams of a complete 
school, and little by little makes his vision real — such 
dreams as holding the boys and young men, supplemental 
drills, best teaching methods, a saved school inspired for 
service. He knows that there are no difficulties that are 
insuperable. "Only Providence can stand in the way of a 
determined man." Our superintendent plans his work and 
works his plans. He does not happen on success. Above 
all, he puts love into his work and gets back what he gives. 

7. His compensations. He will have the reverence and 
lasting respect of scores and hundreds of those into whose 
lives he has entered as a molding force never to be forgot- 
ten. He has the consciousness of knowing that he occu- 
pies week by week a forum of power, the platform. He 
lives in anticipation of having at last the Master's commen- 
dation: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my breth- 
/en, even these least, ye did it unto me." 

The Bible becomes more of a personal treasure and Christ 
a greater reality as he seeks to apply both to the need of 
others. 

Some years ago a company of Sunday-school workers 
called upon John Wanamaker at his store in Philadelphia. 
In response to the words of earnest greeting from the 
visitors Mr. Wanamaker said: "Brethren, if you will take 
this as my testimony — and I give it at the end of fifty years' 
experience with one Sunday school — if I were to live my 
life over I would begin just where I did, only I think I 
could do my work four times better than I did. There is 
no better investment of life, no matter how rich or wise a 
man may become." 

Brother superintendent, a true estimate of our work 
will lead us to the viewpoint of Phillips Brooks: 

Oh, do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. 
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers 
equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your task shall be 



38 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

no miracle. But you shall be the miracle. Every day you 
shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has 
come to you by the grace of God. 

Bibliography 
The Successful Sunday School Superintendent, Wells. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The paid superintendency. 

2. The career of some especially successful superinten- 
dents. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What should constitute a superintendent's call? 

2. How should he be elected? 

3. What four qualifications are essential for his success? 

4. Name four things he should not do. 

5. Name four things he should do. 

6. What are some of the rewards of his work? 



CHAPTER III 
THE SCHOOL GRADED 

1. Why grade the school? (1) God has graded the 
child. — In grading the school we are seeking to adapt the 
material to the individual according to his age and devel- 
opment. Grading recognizes that there are distinct stages 
in the physical, mental, and spiritual growth of the pupil. 
At the earlier stage play is the dominating interest; at the 
junior age memory power is strong; in the early teens 
biography makes its appeal; in the later teens, altruism. 
"The aptitudes, the needs, the interests, of the different 
periods can only be met and taken advantage of by a 
graded system." 

(2) The Sunday school is a church school. — The superin- 
tendent is the principal of the school. The principles of 
religious teaching are not different from those of secular 
teaching. Full advantage should be taken of all well-ascer- 
tained results in the field of secular education and applied 
to the Sunday school, keeping in view the natural limita- 
tions imposed by a volunteer service and an often inade- 
quate equipment. 

(3) The first principle in modern teaching is to know the 
mind of the pupil. — "Scientific pedagogy has been coming 
more and more to hold that effective teaching must regard 
first the mind of the learner and consider the teaching ma- 
terial as a means of reaching desired ends" (Barclay). 
This viewpoint makes inevitable the grading of lesson ma- 
terial, of worship, and of the expressional life of the school. 

2. How grade the school? In nearly every school there 
is some form of grading. The uniform lesson helps natu- 
rally grade schools into primary, junior, intermediate-senior, 
and young-people-adult groups. The primary graded les- 

39 



40 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

sons are in use in many small schools that otherwise may 
use the uniform lesson. 

Certain difficulties inherent in the closely graded lessons, 
which provide three different grade lessons in a given de- 
partment, are recognized in their application to the small 
school. While these closely graded lessons should be recog- 
nized and applied wherever possible as an educational ideal, 
the International Lesson Committee has endeavored to meet 
the conditions existing in the average and especially the 
small school by a proposal for a series of group lessons, 
which require but one lesson at the same time for an entire 
department or for a departmental class in the small school. 
These group lessons will likely gradually displace the uni- 
form lessons and will solve the problem of many a superin- 
tendent who wishes to regard the graded principle in his 
work but finds difficulty in using the closely graded lessons. 
These group lessons will help in the matter of substitutes, 
in harmonizing the departmental program for the day as 
to songs, prayer, and expressional plans with the group 
lesson, and will enable at least a departmental teachers' 
meeting dealing with the lesson. 

The general principle that must be recognized in grading 
is a due regard to age and to the physical, mental, and 
spiritual development of the pupil in the matters of curric- 
ulum, teaching methods, and promotions. We must re- 
gard the three normal divisions of human life — "childhood, 
the period of subjection, imitation, receptivity; youth, the 
period of awakening powers; manhood, the period of de- 
veloped powers." A careful study of these periods has 
made necessary some clear subdivisions of these periods 
with certain variations due to sex and retarded or rapid 
development. Any grading strictly on age lines must be 
more or less defective. The main consideration is to grade 
as closely as possible. 

The following plan of grading and organization, gen- 
erally approved by Sunday-school agencies and boards, is 
suggested: 



THE SCHOOL GRADED 41 



Children's Division: 
Cradle Roll 

Beginners' Department 

Primary Department 

Junior Department 
Young People's Division: 

Intermediate Department 

Senior Department 

Young People's Department 



Adult Department: over 24, including, in close 

correlation, 
Home Department 
Parents' Department 
Organized adult 
classes. 

Teacher Training Department 

3. Extension of the graded principle. The principle 
of grading, when admitted as essential in any plan for the 
making of intelligent Christians, must carry us further 
than the matter of curriculum and departmental division. 
It must be applied to the whole sweep of our work — recrea- 
tion, evangelism, social service, special days, missions. 
For the same reason that we would not study the same 
lesson material at seven as at seventeen we would not heed 
the same evangelistic appeal, we would not be appealed to 



Ages 


Public-school grade 


1 




2 




3 




4 




5 


1 


6 


1 


7 


2 


8 


3 


9 


4 


10 


5 


11 


6 


12 


7 


13 


8 


14 


9 


15 


10 


16 


11 


17 


12 


18 




to 




24 





42 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

by the same phases of missionary endeavor, we would not 
enjoy the same sports and games, the same songs and 
payers would not equally impress, the same kinds of social 
service would not interest. 

Right here is the argument for separate rooms for each 
department, so that this principle of religious education 
can be applied to age groups the year through. It is an 
educational fallacy and an administrative mistake for the 
superintendent to attempt each Sunday to bring all of his 
departments into one session for general exercises. Every 
principle of successful teaching is violated when he at- 
tempts to adapt the opening or closing service of worship to 
the primary children, juniors, intermediates, seniors, young 
people, and adults. I am well aware that our defective 
provision of separate rooms or department equipment makes 
difficult and almost impossible any other plan. I know, too, 
that the one-room school prevails in the rural sections of 
our country and in many villages and towns, and that the 
best that can be done frequently is to separate the primary 
children and to apply the graded plan through the individ- 
ual teacher to the class group. But I am also aware that 
there are many superintendents, good men, who still har- 
bor the idea that a successful school consists in a general 
gathering, where he can see his flock and they can see him. 
The hurrah plan of the mass meeting does not mean that 
the best thing has been done for the teacher or the indi- 
vidual pupil. Personally I would rather never see my 
school in one assembly if by it a pupil would fail of the 
right educational impressions. And in my own school we 
adhere strictly to the plan of complete departmental separa- 
tion throughout the entire session. 

The interest of the pupil, as a matter of fact, is greater 
when his own age interests are appealed to by the separate 
session. The boy of sixteen resents being classed, intel- 
lectually or socially, with the boy of eleven, and one reason 
why we have not held the boy and girl in their teens in 
larger numbers is because of this very intermixture. 



THE SCHOOL GRADED 43 

Little by little Sunday-school architecture is con- 
forming to these principles, and meanwhile the only thing 
to do is to make such separations and departmental recog- 
nitions as are possible where conditions are limited. In 
the chapters on equipment and organization this will be 
discussed. 

Where opportunity permits, therefore, and especially 
where the size of the school and the arrangement of rooms 
makes it possible, the plan of grading should be extended 
to all phases of the departmental life. By this I mean to 
the lessons, exercises, platform drill, library, missionary 
and other benevolences, socials and recreations, evangelistic 
appeal, special days, and general service expression. As 
an instance the plan would provide for a different character 
of Christmas exercises for each department — a Christmas 
tree, with its collateral interests for the younger children; 
a cantata for the juniors; a world missionary program with 
an altruistic appeal for the seniors; and Christ magnified 
in all. 

4. Shall teachers be graded? The question whether 
teachers should stay with the department in a graded school 
or go forward with the class is frequently raised. In the 
departments up through the junior I think the teacher 
should stay with the department, if he or she shows special 
fitness for the graded work. My experience is that there 
are some junior teachers who are often fitted for the ad- 
vanced work of the teens and who, at the transitional age 
(physically) of the pupil, might well go forward with the 
class. Especially is this desirable where the school policy 
is to train its young people as teachers during the period 
of the later teens; for these young people are as a rule 
better fitted to teach pupils below the teen age, and plans 
must be made for them in the teaching work of junior or 
lower departments. 

In the transition, too, from the Intermediate to the 
Senior, and from the Senior to the Young People's Depart- 
ment the question of the personal fitness of the teacher to 



44 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

advance with the pupil and the question of personal re- 
lationship to the pupil must enter into the decision as to 
holding or promoting the teacher. For this is an age when 
the teacher's personal grip on the big boy and girl is fre- 
quently the determining factor in inducing continued at- 
tendance upon the school and in launching the life for 
Christ, especially if there is not a strong young people's 
departmental interest to attract. 

I can well understand how many a superintendent, facing 
his own school conditions and limitations in the light of 
these principles, may have almost a sense of discourage- 
ment. The real and the ideal seem far apart. But I often 
think of that pithy statement of Marion Lawrance: "Do the 
best you can with what you have where you are to-day." 
And if we can work out these ideas, little by little, under 
present limitations, aiming constantly for some improve- 
ment, we have succeeded. 

The recognition of the graded principle in the adminis- 
tration of the church school is fundamental. The question 
of practical organization on the lines of this principle will 
be taken up under Chapters IV and V. In any such plan 
an educational superintendent, where the superintendent 
is not especially qualified, would seem to be necessary to 
supervise grading, promotions, curriculum, teacher train- 
ing, etc. And in the training of the teacher emphasis should 
be placed upon specialization reading and study for his de- 
partmental work. 

Bibliography 

The School in the Modern Church, Cope. 
The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, 
Meyer. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. Graded lesson courses. 

2. Some successful graded schools. 



THE SCHOOL GRADED 



45 



ORGANIZATION CHART 


AGE 


COURSE 


TITLES OF COURSES 


Departmental Groups 


School 
Gradei 


Planl 


Plan 2 


4 

5 


BEGIN- 
NERS 


The Little Child and the Heavenly Father 
(A Two Year Course for children of Kindergarten age.) 


BEGIN- 
NERS 


BEGIN- 
NERS 


KINDER- 
GARTEN 

E 
L 

E G 
M R 
E A 
N D 
T E 
A S 
R 
Y 

H 

G 
H 

S 

c 

H 


L 

C 

L 
L 
E 
G 
E 


6 


I 


Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home-Year i 


PRI- 
MARY 


PRI- 
MARY 


7 


n 


Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home- Year 2 


8 


m 


Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home-Year 3 


9 


IV 


Stories from the Olden Time ^^?{£? a f) Slumner 


JUNIOR 


JUNIOR 


10 

ii 


V 


Hero Stories (including Special Summer Material) 


VI 


Kingdom Stories (including Special Summer Material) 


12 

13 


vn 


Gospel Stories (including Special Summer Material) 


INTER- 
MEDIATE 


VIII 


Leaders Of Israel (including Special Summer Material) 


INTER- 
MEDIATE 


14 


IX 


Christian Leaders (including Special Summer Material) 


15 


X 


The Life Of Christ (including Special Summer Material) 


SENIOR 


16 


XI 


Christian Living (including Special Summer Material) 


17 


xn 


The World a Field for Christian Service 


SENIOR 


18 


xm 


The History and Literature of the Hebrew People 


YOUNG 
PEOPLE 

TO 

24 
YEARS 


20 


XIV 


The History of New Testament Times 


XV 


The Bible and Social Living 




Special Courses for Parents and Elective Courses 
on Special Topics 


ADULT 


THE COURSES BEGIN WITH OCTOBER 



Note 

Plan 1: When the graded lessons were first issued, the 
yearly courses were grouped to correspond to this well- 
known classification of pupils, and the textbooks were 
marked in accordance with this plan. 

Plan 2: The departmental grouping by a series of three 
years to a department corresponds to the school grading 
where junior high schools have been organized and is now 
recommended by many denominations. 

Care must be taken to select the graded courses by age 
and titles, as indicated in the left column, rather than by 
department names. 

Copyright, 1918, by N. S. Barnes 



46 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What is the principle of grading? 

2. How closely should the Sunday school follow the pub- 
lic school in grading? 

3. State the divisions of grading. 

4. Name the departments* and age groups. 

5. What is the argument for separation of departments? 

6. How far shall the graded principle be carried? 

7. Shall teachers be graded? 



CHAPTER IV 
THE SCHOOL EQUIPPED 

1. The Sunday-school building. (1) The church's 
new vision as to Sunday-school housing. — "The complete 
Sunday school is one which meets the needs of every indi- 
vidual member at each stage of his development and plans 
for its own perpetuation as an institution." 

In the last ten years, because of its changed conception as 
to the place of religious education, the church has entirely 
revised its views on the question of Sunday-school architec- 
ture and equipment. This has come about in part through 
the introduction of graded lessons, a new demand upon 
the church that it shall provide adequately for the physical 
and social life of the young people, a new emphasis upon 
week-day schools for religious education, and a new sense 
of its obligation as a community center, in which shall 
focus all that is wholesome and uplifting for the com- 
munity life. 

Church and Sunday-school architects have been revising 
their plans to meet this new demand. We find such organ- 
izations as the Board of Sunday Schools and the Board of 
Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church estab- 
lishing a joint department on church and Sunday-school 
architecture, which incorporates in its plans for new build- 
ings the latest ideas for the Sunday school and which ad- 
vises as to the remodeling of present inadequate plants on 
the newer lines. We find the Publication and Sunday School 
Board of the Reformed Church in the United States (Phila- 
delphia) issuing a series of practical pamphlets on Sunday- 
school equipment. In one of these, Housing the Church 
School, by Blanche A. Zieber, plans are outlined for remod- 
eling or building seven types of buildings: "The One-Room," 

47 



48 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

"The One-Room With Partitions/' "The One-Room and Base- 
ment," "The Combination Building," "Separate Rooms With 
Movable Partitions," "Entire Separation for Each Depart- 
ment," and "Separate Assembly Rooms With Classrooms." 

A library of books dealing especially with church and 
Sunday-school architecture has been produced, including 
such books as Housing the Rural Sunday School, Bruner; 
Housing the Sunday School, Lawrance; and The Sunday 
School Building and Its Equipment, Evans. 

New emphasis has been given to the whole matter 
through a careful survey of the field of Sunday-school and 
church architecture, especially with reference to the pro- 
vision by the church for its church school and the week- 
day life, conducted by a Commission on American Religious 
Education, under the leadership of Professor Walter S. 
Athearn, of Boston University. In this investigation a 
wide variety of existing churches were studied, and a score 
card was used covering the points of site, building, service 
system, church rooms, religious school rooms and com- 
munity-service rooms. Churches were rated according to 
their measurement by this test. 

Certain it is that the Sunday school has passed the day 
of its debasement. It can no longer be an afterthought in 
the plans of architects and church committees. In its hous- 
ing plans the church is accepting responsibility for the edu- 
cational work of the school and for the whole realm of life 
between Sundays. The community is demanding this of 
the church as a tax-free institution. Young people are re- 
quiring this at the hands of church officials who must know 
that the whole strategy for the church of the future is to 
conserve the whole of life for Christ and service. Young 
people are measuring the church by these new standards. 
Where the church makes an adequate investment on these 
lines, the church school grows apace. 

(2) The committee on Sunday-school housing and equip- 
ment.— A. first step in realizing the goal of better housing 
and equipment for the Sunday school is the appointment of 






THE SCHOOL EQUIPPED 49 

a committee on Sunday-school housing and equipment to 
make a survey of the local conditions and needs and to 
study the best plans for improvement (see Sunday School 
Officers' Manual, Brown, Chapter XXIII). Often a compara- 
tively small expenditure will greatly enlarge the efficiency 
and attractiveness of the plant. The committee should seek 
suggestions from the denominational Sunday-school boards 
as well as from competent members of the school. 

After agreement upon plans a reconstruction day may be 
arranged if the plan is to remodel an old building to meet 
Sunday-school needs, and the interest of classes or depart- 
ments enlisted for parts of the plan in cooperation, of 
course, with a general church effort. These parts may be 
the provision of partitions, paint, wall decoration, pictures, 
mottoes, carpets, hangings, blackboards, sand table, charts, 
shrubbery or flowers for grounds, flags, or classroom deco- 
rations. 

The simplest plans for housing the school should provide 
for the separation of the beginners and the primary chil- 
dren from the rest of the school by solid partitions, to per- 
mit of singing and recitation work. The next important 
step, in view of the memory drill work required at that 
age, is a separate room for the juniors. And any plan 
that aims at educational efficiency will include rooms for 
the Beginners', Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, 
Young People's, Adult, and Training Departments. Beyond 
that comes the need for executive and other workrooms 
and the recreational and social life. These will be touched 
upon in detail. 

In any plan light and air must be essentials. Even if 
plain the walls can be tinted with some warm color. Mot- 
toes and texts that stand for great ideals can be painted 
or hung upon the walls. And there are scores of pictures 
of childhood, of missionary and church and national heroes, 
as well as copies of the great masterpieces, which can be 
had cheaply, which are of inspirational and religious value. 
French schoolboys are taken to the palace of Versailles to 



50 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

study the great paintings of the Napoleonic battles am 
thus absorb a love of country. No less wise should we be 
in teaching, through the eye gate, the ideals of the church. 
An occasional change of mottoes or pictures is advisable. 

2. The school's workrooms. (1) The department 
rooms. — Where the architectural arrangement permits of 
department rooms, they should be fitted to the needs of 
the various departments. When an absolute separation by 
wall cannot be arranged, there are devices for making arti- 
ficial separation by means of screens, folding or drop or 
rolling canvas partitions, or by heavy curtains hung on 
bars or heavy wire. 

In Chapter VII we shall consider the appliances and 
decorations required for each department. Every depart- 
ment should be equipped with a double blackboard for 
hymns, special mottoes, attendance and Bible record, drill 
work, lesson theme, or central thought. The department 
motto and banner and honor banner should be in evidence; 
also the pupils' honor roll for attendance or meritorious 
work. 

(2) The assembly room. — In the one-room school or the 
school where of necessity several departments are combined 
for opening or closing worship, it is desirable to have a 
piano in preference to an organ, a hymn board for announce- 
ment of the service and hymn numbers, a double black- 
board and announcement board for total attendance, offer- 
ing, and Bibles. Frames with removable letters can be 
used for some of these purposes and for brief notices. A 
bulletin board at some prominent point is of value for 
special notices, compelling quotations, missionary facts, 
and slogans for the day or month. 

In such a room chairs tipped with rubber or felt are to 
be preferred to settees; for they permit grouping accord- 
ing to the size of the class. The teacher's table, with drawer 
for songbooks and materials, should be at the center of 
each group in the department or assembly room. A class 
box, accessible to the secretary, is desirable for offering, 



THE SCHOOL EQUIPPED 51 

class book, and other material. A very impressive wall 
cabinet, 26 feet by 8, has been worked out by the Presby- 
terian Sunday school of Bozeman, Montana, containing 
blackboards and supplies, charts, songs and illustrations, 
and sand board. This was built from a set of complete 
detail working drawings, which are available. Wherever 
possible the superintendent's platform should be equipped 
with electric signals for warning purposes and to call 
officers or aids. 

(3) Classrooms. — The growth of senior, young people's, 
and adult-class organization makes classrooms imperative 
in a school of any size. These classrooms become the cen- 
ter of class enthusiasm and precious memories. They are 
essential for the best teaching work. If the partitions in 
these classrooms can be folded back during the department 
service of worship, it will give a sense of unity to the ses- 
sion. Where the meeting room does not provide for class- 
rooms, screens or curtains or folding partition can be used 
for class separation. 

The classroom equipment may include a hat rack, cabi- 
net for card index of class, forms and supplies, a good re- 
versible blackboard with a box of crayons and eraser, bul- 
letin board for class items, table for songbooks and other 
materials, class-organization certificate framed, pictures 
of great leaders and of the class group, class name and 
motto worked in class colors on pennant or in banner form, 
and a shelf projecting into the department room for class 
records and other items from or for the school secretary 
and treasurer. 

(4) Executive room. — This should be conveniently lo- 
cated, so as to be reached easily by teachers and pupils. 
The school superintendent, secretary, and treasurer should 
have desks in this room unless the school is large enough 
to have separate rooms for these officers. Where there is 
an enrollment and absentee secretary, his desk and that of 
the secretary should be marked. The equipment for the 
secretary may include the general register, class books, 



52 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

visitors' register, card indexes for birthdays, alphabetical 
card index, and even a street index, grouping families under 
their street locations for visitation purposes. 

The treasurer's outfit should include his record book 
for regular, benevolent, and special offerings, class bags 
for envelopes, and duplex envelopes for the weekly offerings 
of the pupils for the school and benevolences. Special en- 
velopes can be used for special days. 

A gelatin pad for circular letters is useful. Many schools 
now have typewriters, members of the school who are 
stenographers giving a certain amount of time to the school 
clerical work as a volunteer service. 

(5) Library room. — While the public libraries, sown 
thick throughout the land, have superseded in many places 
the old Sunday-school library, there is still an imperative 
need for libraries including up-to-date missionary books, 
books of reference, and of information for teachers. Such 
libraries will be treated in the appropriate chapter. There 
should be a library room, where pupils and teachers can 
spend their evenings reading or playing games. Such a 
room will become a center of week-day interest. It should 
include copies of the best magazines. In this or the sec- 
retaries' room should be kept the songbooks of the school 
and the class boxes where the class tables are not used. 

(6) Exhibit room. — Where local conditions will not per- 
mit a separate room, this room may be combined with the 
library. In such cases cabinets can be provided for col- 
lection of curios, such as samples of products and flowers 
from Bible lands, especially those things which will illus- 
trate Bible references. These can be obtained reasonably 
from Sunday-school supply houses. This room can be made 
of great value in stimulating missionary interest through 
exhibits of curios and souvenirs from missionary lands 
and pictures of missionary heroes. 

(7) Manual room. — Where quarters are limited, the 
features of this room may have to be combined with one or 
both of the rooms above mentioned. But there should be 



THE SCHOOL EQUIPPED 53 

a room with a center table, chairs, and closet for the tech- 
nical side of the school's work. The best maps, a good 
picture of Jerusalem, relief maps of the Holy Land, pulp- 
map work, a sand table, charts of Christ's life by periods, 
charts of Christ's and Paul's journeys, models of Oriental 
buildings, charts showing dress, products, and implements 
of Palestine or, better still, models of them, a stereoscope 
and outfit of pictures of Bible lands, a large globe, a school 
stereopticon, materials for object teaching — some of these 
should find a place in such a room. And the handwork and 
notebook work accomplished by pupils should be displayed. 

(8) Gymnasium and drill room. — Provision must be made 
for the week-day physical life of the young people. When 
a separate room can be planned for, it is better, but fre- 
quently some department room may have to serve a double 
purpose. Some simple gymnasium apparatus should be 
provided, such as a swinging ring, gymnasium horse, a 
swinging bar, a thick mat, and Indian clubs. If facilities 
permit, include lockers, showers, basketball and handball 
courts, swimming pool, and bowling alley. 

Camps for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls 
and similar organizations are multiplying among the Sun- 
day schools of the country and are effective factors in hold- 
ing our young people. The gymnasium may serve the 
double purpose of a drill and meeting room for these. 

(9) Social and duo rooms. — These should have homelike 
elements that will attract young people in the face of the 
counterattractions of the community. Where these rooms 
are used by women's, men's, boys', and girls' organizations, 
the insignia of these organizations should be displayed 
about the rooms. Any expenditure for the beautifying of 
these rooms for gathering of teachers, parents, classes, and 
other units will be worth while. Many churches have 
added a kitchen for use on social occasions. 

. 3. Other equipment. (1) School motto and colors. — 
A motto or school slogan embracing the school idea should 
be selected. It may be Scriptural or otherwise. It will 



54 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

stimulate interest. It should appear upon the school wall 
and be occasionally repeated in the service of worship. - It 
should appear on the school pins. It should be inscribed 
on the school banner. The motto of the writer's school is: 
"We seek the best"; and the response is: "In love and 
service for the best Friend, in devotion to the best Book, 
and in loyalty to teacher, class, and school." There is no 
objection to a department motto to promote department 
efficiency. The school colors should be selected after care- 
ful consideration and should inspire school loyalty. Badges, 
decorations, programs, and banners should reflect these 
colors, and special days will be the brighter and more in- 
teresting because of them. The school motto on the wall 
should be in these colors. 

The school flower should be selected with reference to the 
school colors. Our school colors are white and gold, and 
our flower is the daisy, with the chrysanthemum as the 
alternate flower for fall use. 

Other mottoes will of course appear about the walls, such 
as "In everything give thanks"; "Be strong and of good 
courage"; "Love thinketh no evil"; "Expect great things 
from God; attempt great things for God"; "Anywhere if 
only it be forward"; "All together"; or "Pull together." 

(2) Banners and flags. — The school banner, with motto, 
should be displayed in front of the room, encased with glass 
front to prevent its soiling. Department banners should 
be treated in the same way. Banners for honor classes 
for a month of perfect record as to attendance and Bible 
bringing will stimulate interest. 

In this day of world interest a well-regulated school 
should have the Christian and American flags and the flags 
of the leading nations for use upon patriotic and mission- 
ary days. These can easily be procured if each class is 
given the opportunity of presenting one flag. An impres- 
sive flag dedication service should be held when these flags, 
are formally presented, and the national songs of the coun- 
tries sung by the classes or as solos. 



THE SCHOOL EQUIPPED 55 

• 

(3) Maps. — These can usually be bought reasonably in 
a series illustrating the journeys of the patriarchs and the 
children of Israel, the tribes of the kingdom of Israel, 
Palestine in Christ's time, and Paul's journeys. Where 
such a set is not purchased, one large map of Palestine and 
one that will show Paul's journeys will serve. In the pres- 
ent increasing interest in missions the fine missionary map 
of the world, which can be bought cheaply at denomina- 
tional headquarters, is valuable. 

(4) Hymnbooks. — In the last ten years several excellent 
Sunday-school hymnbooks have been issued, which include 
the great hymns, new and old, and combine high quality 
with singing effectiveness for the small and large school. 
The words, too, are selected with reference to high senti- 
ment and dignity. The opening and closing services of 
worship in these books are rich in variety and will in- 
evitably strengthen the services. These hymnbooks, when 
selected, should be marked with the class numbers and be 
kept in class tables or boxes. 

(5) Bell. — Where the organ, piano, or orchestra is used 
in preludes, the bell is unnecessary except for warning five 
minutes before the lesson closing and as a signal for rising 
or sitting. As a method of securing order, especially by 
frequent pounding, it is a failure, and a superintendent 
who depends on it for that purpose only promotes con- 
fusion and disorder. Where electricity is available, an 
electric gong signal is to be preferred to the bell. 

(6) General suggestions. — Among the accessories in gen- 
eral equipment may be mentioned a suggestion box at the 
door for helpful ideas or questions, a bulletin board at the 
entrance for any special notices and for Sunday-school 
papers, a birthday box for birthday offerings, a Sunday- 
school "thermometer" showing enrollment and school at- 
tendance, a stereopticon, a motion-picture machine, wall 
cabinets, and song cabinet. The platform should be care- 
fully regulated as to height according to the department 
and size of room. 



56 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

In the church or school budget there should be an annual 
item to provide for new equipment and for the replacement 
of the old. 

Bibliography 

The Sunday School Building and Its Equipment, Evans. 
Sunday School Officers' Manual, Brown, Chapter XXIII. 
Housing the Rural Sunday School, Bruner. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. Some well-planned Sunday-school buildings. 

2. Plans for department rooms. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What is the trend in Sunday-school architecture? 

2. Should the Primary Department hold its sessions with 
the rest of the school? If not, why not? 

3. Are separate department rooms an essential to best 
work, and why? 

4. Name some equipment for an assembly room. 

5. What classroom equipment is desirable? 

6. What other rooms are requisite for the school's best 
work? 

7. Name a few important items of general equipment. 



CHAPTER V 
THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 

We shall in this and the next chapter consider organ- 
ization as regards officers, departments, and committees 
of the school — that is, its management side. With school 
organization as it is related to the work of the teacher, 
the pupil, the home, and the community we shall deal in 
detail in separate later chapters. 

Organization is essential for unity, strength, and per- 
manence. As the framework is not intended for exhibition, 
so organization is most effective when least seen; when all 
that is manifest is the warm, pulsing, loving, busy, joyful 
life of the school; when head, hand, and heart work to- 
gether perfectly. 

The difference between a successful school and one that 
is a failure lies frequently in organization. Genius in de- 
tails of management is the secret of many a superinten- 
dent's success. 

1. The school's objectives. The school organization 
will be determined by the school's objectives and by its 
size. I suggest a few goals that should be present in every 
successful school: (1) Every pupil a Christian before 
passing the years of decision; (2) the school so graded that 
the right place can be found in it for every member of the 
community; (3) all the teachers students of a training 
course or graduates of such a course; (4) every member 
present every Sunday unless ill or out of town, with Bible, 
offering, and a prepared lesson; (5) a regular gathering of 
workers for conference upon school and teachers' prob- 
lems; (6) all the Sunday school of attending age at the 
church service; (7) a school session with dignity, soul, 
variety, and pulsating with interest; (8) the recognition of 

57 



58 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

special days by appropriate programs; (9) department 
separation where possible; (10) a young people's leadership- 
training class that shall equip for service for the com- 
munity and the world; (11) adequate provision for the 
week-day and social and physical welfare of its members; 
(12) the recognition and welcome of strangers; (13) every 
class over twelve organized and registered with the de- 
nominational and State Sunday-school-association head- 
quarters; (14) every parent a member of the Parent or 
Home Department of the school — in short, a school efficient, 
whether large or small; educational rather than spectacu- 
lar; where right teaching is placed above entertainment; 
where instruction through the eye, ear, hand, and heart 
assures training for complete living. 

The school organization will naturally take its spirit 
from such objectives. Not all the organization described 
below can apply to every school. In plan and principle 
the suggested organization comprises these objectives and 
should be carried out even if necessary to merge the work 
called for in fewer executives. 

It is important that the superintendent procure from his 
denominational Sunday-school headquarters the standard 
fixed for attainment and recognition by the Board of Sun- 
day Schools of his denomination. Sometimes charts of 
these standards are furnished and should be hung in a 
prominent place in the assembly room. 

The standard for Methodist Episcopal Sunday schools, 
which is admittedly a high one, follows: 

Aim : 

1. To win every available member of the community to 
the Sunday school. 

2. To win the members of the Sunday school to Christ 
and the church; to instruct and train them for intelli- 
gent and effective Christian living. 

Means : 

1. Graded organization (grouping by age, interest, and 
capacity). 



THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 59 

2. Graded instruction (graded lessons and graded meth- 
ods of instruction). 

3. Trained teachers and officers (at least 50 per cent of 
the teachers and officers either students or graduates 
of an approved training course). 

4. Continuous evangelism. 

5. Graded service activities. 

6. Organization for systematic missionary instruction and 
giving. 

7. Regular church attendance. 

8. Annual Rally Day and offering for the Board of Sun- 
day Schools. 

Product: 

The measure of a school's efficiency is the character of 
its product. The following tests should therefore be 
applied constantly: 

1. Is the interest of the pupils in the school increasing? 
Does this manifest itself in an increasing average at- 
tendance? 

2. Is their knowledge of the Bible growing? 

3. Is their devotional life steadily developing? 

4. Do they show increasing interest and efficiency in 
Christian service? 

5. Is the school increasing the number of its trained 
workers? 

A school will attain this standard when it accepts these 
aims, uses these means, and measures its product by 
these tests. 

2. School constitution and by-laws. These neces- 
sarily will be modified by the relation that the school oc- 
cupies to the church under the church polity of the de- 
nomination and by the size of the school and its objectives. 

The form of constitution for Methodist schools provides 
that there shall be a local Sunday-school board, auxiliary 
to the Board of Sunday Schools, and constituted as follows: 
the pastor, who shall be ex officio chairman; the committee 
on religious instruction, appointed by the quarterly con- 
ference; the director of religious education (where there 
is one) ; the superintendent, who shall be ex officio vice 
chairman; the assistant superintendents; the heads of de- 
partments; the duly elected secretaries, treasurers, and 



60 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

librarians; the teachers of the school; the assistant teach- 
ers, nominated and elected in the same way as the teachers; 
the presidents of the Sunday-school temperance and mis- 
sionary societies; and the Home Department visitors, who 
shall be elected in the same way as teachers. 

The superintendent, under the constitution, is nominated 
annually by the Sunday-school board and confirmed by the 
quarterly conference. The teachers are nominated by the 
superintendent in consultation with the pastor and elected 
by the board. 

As the superintendent is largely responsible for the school 
administration he should be given the privilege, subject to 
confirmation by the Sunday-school board, of nomination of 
the other school officers, who shall compose his cabinet. 

3. Organization of the small school. What organiza- 
tion is essential to efficiency, and possible of adoption by 
any school, even the smallest rural school? 

(1) A Cradle Roll for children up to three. 

(2) A Children's Division for those three to eleven. 
Where at all possible this should be subdivided into classes 
for beginners (three to five), primary (six to eight), and 
junior (nine to eleven). 

(3) A Young People's Division for those twelve to twenty- 
four. This should be subdivided into an intermediate class 
or classes (twelve to fourteen), a senior class or classes 
(fifteen to seventeen), and a young people's class or classes 
(eighteen to twenty-four). The organization of these 
classes is recommended. * 

(4) An Adult Division or classes for those over twenty- 
four. This may include a class or classes especially for 
parents. These classes should also be organized. 

(5) A Home Department. 

(6) A Training Department or class pursuing an ap- 
proved course of study or one or more workers taking a 
correspondence course in teacher or officer training. 

(7) A Sunday-school missionary organization. 

(8) A committee on Sunday-school evangelism. 

(9) Annual Promotion Day, on which pupils are pro- 
moted from department to department according to some 
definitely determined plan. 



THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 61 

If there is a sufficient number of workers, these addi- 
tional committees should be appointed: 

(1) A committee on law enforcement, to keep alive a 
wholesome sentiment with reference to prohibition and its 
enforcement. 

(2) A committee on special days, to make the most of 
these school occasions. 

(3) A committee on membership, to look after the visi- 
tation of absentees and the enlistment of new members 
for the school. 

4. Organization of the larger school. The superin- 
tendent should secure from his denominational Sunday- 
school board or from the State or provincial Sunday-school 
association the standards of organization for the school, 
departments, classes, and for officer and teacher training. 
These standards will give him the general framework for 
organization. Reference should be made to the plan of 
divisional and departmental organization in Chapter III. 
Decision must then be made as to the general and special 
objectives of the school. Upon the basis of these considera- 
tions and the location and size of the school the officers, 
helpers, and committees should be appointed. Those that 
follow are suggested out of experience. The work outlined 
under each can be combined in fewer executives or commit- 
tees if conditions make this necessary. The mention made 
as to duties is necessarily brief, as the work is more fully 
outlined in the succeeding chapters of this book. 

(1) The officers. — (a) The pastor. — The pastor is the 
pastor of the Sunday school as well as of the church and, 
by virtue of this relationship, is the official head of the 
school. He will be at the school session to encourage, help, 
and supplement, as far as possible, the superintendent's 
labors. His counsel should be sought and, when offered, 
should receive earnest consideration. He may occasionally, 
perhaps regularly, take a class if his strength and duties 
will permit. His relation to the school offers broad op- 
portunities of inspiration. He should be afforded free ac- 
cess to all sessions of the school and his presence always 



62 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

welcomed. He will need to keep in close touch with the 
teachers, for they are his class leaders. He is responsible 
for the character of the educational and spiritual work 
done. He may wish to lead the workers' conference or a 
leadership-training class for teachers and other leaders for 
church and school. He should see that the pupils are, at 
opportune times, invited into the church fellowship. 

(b) The superintendent. — He should work in harmony 
with the pastor and the church committee on religious in- 
struction. Elected as the executive officer of the school 
and responsible for results, he should be allowed the fullest 
liberty in his plans and be given the largest cooperation in 
making his plans effective. His fourfold relationship to 
the church and school, the pupil, the teacher, and the home 
will be presented fully in other chapters. His best work 
will consist in selecting and developing workers and in 
presenting in his life and work the highest standard of 
Christian living and service. 

(c) Educational superintendent. — The service of this 
superintendent will include grading, promotions, manual, 
memory, and training work. These are related lines of 
activity, and in a school of considerable size the fruit of 
proper attention to this office will be large. As an educa- 
tional superintendent his work should be intimately related 
to the church committee of religious instruction. The 
general work of coordinating the educational and grading 
work may be committed to such a superintendent. Through 
such an officer errors in grading can be corrected, the pro- 
motions can be conducted with smoothness and enthusiasm, 
the manual work can be systematically developed, and the 
memory drills can be made to have interest and effective- 
ness. Provision for diplomas for promotion and seals or 
recognition for memory work, as well as the manual room 
and parents' gatherings for the exhibit of the pupils' work, 
would fall under the direction of such an officer. This of- 
ficer should assign pupils to departments and classes. 

(d) Department superintendents. — These should be se- 



THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 63 

lected and nominated by the superintendent. Wisdom in 
the selection of department superintendents makes for 
school success. Frequent conferences, individually and col- 
lectively, with department superintendents are essential to 
harmony and progress. The monthly cabinet meeting 
should supply this opportunity. The superintendent should 
furnish the department head with suggestions and stimulus 
through word, letter, clipping, and book, and with the de- 
partmental leaflet literature of the .denomination or the 
State or provincial Sunday-school association. Even where 
separate rooms cannot be provided for each department, 
each department group of classes is entitled to separate 
supervision as' to literature and manual and memory work. 
The graded lessons make such division and supervision 
almost imperative. The department superintendent is re- 
sponsible for the full organization and conduct of the de- 
partment as it relates to teachers, scholars, and homes, for 
thorough teaching and care of absentees through teachers 
or committees. It is his business to develop department 
efficiency and esprit de corps and to keep the department in 
step with the best school standards, counseling frequently 
with the superintendent. Assistant department superin- 
tendents are essential in schools of large size, and to these 
specific work should be assigned. 

(e) Superintendent of teacher and officer training. — 
Where there is an educational superintendent, this work 
should come under his care. Otherwise, the best person 
possible, a public-school teacher where available, should 
be selected for the task. This officer should become in- 
formed as to the standard courses of his denomination for 
teacher and officer training. He should promote a library 
for the collateral reading of the class, enlist young people 
for the classes, and supervise their training, practice work, 
and examinations. He should also cooperate in enlisting 
present teachers and officers who may not have had the 
advantage of a training course in a reading or corres- 
pondence course in teacher and officer training. 



64 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

(/) Superintendent of missionary instruction. — There is 
need for such an officer to provide missionary plans, pro- 
gram, literature, charts, and other material and to make 
missions a vital part of the school life. This officer may- 
be the president of the missionary society or chairman of 
the missionary committee, cr simply an officer working 
under the direction of such a committee or society in co- 
operation with the general and the department superin- 
tendents. 

(g) Superintendent of membership. — This officer may be 
the school secretary or his assistant, the secretary of en- 
rollment, or some specially qualified person who will direct 
plans for securing new members and the visitation of ab- 
sentees. In some schools the officer is designated as the 
superintendent of absentees and extension. The big leak- 
age in the Sunday school is largely because no one officer 
is giving the absentee consistent attention. This officer 
may be the chairman of a committee, with one representa- 
tive in each department to secure prompt attention to the 
absentee by teacher or committee through card, letter, or 
visit. The best business conservation is to cultivate old 
customers while pushing for new buyers. 

(7i) Assistant superintendents. — The number and duties 
of these are wholly dependent on the size of the school and 
the work to be done. They should not be figureheads. They 
should be made use of if they have ability upon the school 
or department platform for the sake of their training and 
for variety in the exercises. One of them should be ap- 
pointed as first assistant or associate superintendent to take 
care of the superintendents work when he is away and to 
counsel closely with the superintendent. To each assistant 
distinctive duties should be assigned besides the main- 
tenance of order. They may take the chairmanship of im- 
portant committees. One may have special charge of the 
notification and assignment of substitute teachers, another 
of the supervision of details of preparation for the ses- 
sions. These assistants should be known by the pupils 






THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 65 

as friends, and not as policemen. Their smile and welcome 
create school atmosphere and good cheer. 

(i) The secretary, treasurer, and librarian. — The duties 
and opportunities of these officers will be covered in a sub- 
sequent chapter. Where the size of the school warrants, a 
secretary of enrollment and absentees may be provided to 
care for the enlistment and welcome of new pupils and all 
subsequent record of the pupil's life in the school. This 
secretary will cooperate closely with the superintendent of 
membership and may be himself that superintendent. 
Where there are separate department rooms, one or more 
secretaries for each department may be required, and these 
may, in addition to their obvious duties, care for the birth- 
day and welcome notifications. 

0) The cabinet. — In large schools the officers of the 
school, such as the secretary, treasurer, assistant and de- 
partment superintendents, and chairmen of the standing 
committees, compose the superintendent's cabinet. The 
meeting of the cabinet should be regular, to consider ques- 
tions of school policy and management and to sift business 
for the Sunday-school-board meeting. John Wanamaker 
was accustomed to meet his head workers each Sunday 
between the hours of the church service and the afternoon 
Sunday-school sessions for conference on important matters.. 
An annual social meeting of the cabinet, where purely man- 
agement questions shall be taken up, may be in a lighter 
vein and will be found fruitful in welding together those 
who stand as leaders. 

(k) General utility superintendent. — In a school of con- 
siderable size there is call for such an officer who will be 
ready for the unusual call and task. He is a gap filler, to 
serve in case an important officer is away, to help in an 
interdepartmental way, to be a school scout in the visita- 
tion of other schools for good ideas, to be all that the name 
implies. 

(0 Installation of officers. — The installation of officers 
(and teachers as well) by the pastor at a church service 



66 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

is coming into vogue in well-ordered schools. The service 
can be made very impressive, adds dignity to the important 
work to be accomplished, and binds the church and school 
in a proper relationship. Sometimes a certificate is pre- 
sented at such a service, commissioning the officer for his 
service for the year. These services are in print and may 
be obtained through denominational or Sunday-school sup- 
ply houses. The Pilgrim Congregational Sunday School of 
Dorchester, Massachusetts, publishes a fine installation 
service for officers and teachers. They should include a 
charge by the pastor, a pledge of service, and a prayer of 
consecration. 

(2) The school helpers. — (a) Chorister. — Under Chapter 
XI the work of the chorister will be taken up. If he has 
the talent for it, the orchestra may properly be assigned to 
him to build up and to lead. The songs should be selected 
by superintendent and chorister with the thought of de- 
veloping and impressing the worship theme. 

(b) Publicity man. — The Sunday school is in intimate re- 
lationship to the entire community. Its work, its stan- 
dards, its plans and events, should be set forth in attractive 
form regularly in newspaper, card, placard, and circular. 
The Sunday school has the largest proposition on earth to 
present. It should put its best brains to the task. If the 
superintendent has not the advertising talent, surely some- 
one may be found who has. Normally this should be the 
work of the school secretary; but, if he has not the adver- 
tising instinct, a person with the desired aptitude should be 
found for this important work. Such a man should train 
for the work (see Sunday School Officers' Manual, Chapter 
XXV). He should take such periodicals as The Church 
School (150 Fifth Avenue, New York City), which present 
live ideas on Sunday-school advertising, and should keep a 
scrapbook of best methods for reference. 

(c) Doormen, aides, and ushers. — These are indispensa- 
ble for smooth, efficient service, to protect the worship and 
to facilitate the work of the school. The doormen have a 






THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 67 

fine service to render in greeting pupils and teachers as 
they enter, introducing newcomers and strangers tq the 
ushers or friendly-grip or courtesy committees, and in keep- 
ing doors closed during worship. These, with the aides 
and ushers, should be designated by some badge. 

The aides should be the larger boys or young men, hav- 
ing regular duties, such as the distribution of programs, the 
arrangement of platform and orchestra chairs, the placing 
of announcement boards, the taking of the superinten- 
dent's communications to officers and teachers before or 
during the sessions, and the ringing of signals. They should 
be in training for future officers. The ushers will have to 
do with the seating of strangers and classes. 

(d) The stenographer- ^In some important schools the 
stenographer performs a helpful part in reaching sick 
or absent pupils or teachers through the written message 
and in sending notices of committee or other meetings. 

(3) Committees. — In any well-organized school it is nec- 
sary that much important work be accomplished through 
standing committees. The details of many questions can- 
not be handled satisfactorily by a teachers' board without 
bearing too heavily upon the time of the members. A sub- 
division of labor makes for more thorough work and in- 
terests a larger number. It will always be necessary to 
appoint special committees for unusual matters, but the 
routine work of the school can be easily compassed by the 
standing committees, who should report regularly to the 
teachers' board and also make an annual report. The num- 
ber of these committees and the number of members upon 
each must depend on the size of the school, but the work 
for which these which are suggested stand is common or 
should be common to all schools and should be covered 
in some form. The training of these committees is impor- 
tant. Suggestions for their training may be found in Sun- 
day School Officers' Manual, Brown. In the departments 
beyond the Junior young people should have a place on 
some of these committees. 



68 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

The sums at the disposal of each committee should be 
determined and included in the budget of school expenses. 

(a) Committee on religious instruction. — This is really 
a church committee on religious education, which has to 
do with the entire plan of religious education for the church. 
It is to plan, coordinate, and supervise the educational work 
of the Sunday school and all other church organizations, 
to prevent overlapping, to guide the curriculum and expres- 
sional activities, and to develop a well-balanced program. 
It will include week-day and daily vacation Bible schools 
in its service. The committee should plan, through a lead- 
ership-training class, for the selection and training of lead- 
ers for these various organizations. It should cooperate 
closely with the school officers in providing adequate time 
for the Sunday-school session; in providing for a Sunday- 
school anniversary in the church service once a year when 
reports of school progress can be made; in promoting a 
house-to-house visitation to increase Sunday-school member- 
ship, Bible study, and family worship in the home; and also 
aim to make every member of the church a member of some 
department of the Sunday school. 

(o) The friendly-grip committee. — This may be termed 
the welcome committee, the visitors' committee, the cour- 
tesy committee, or the strangers' committee. Its specific 
work is to welcome the stranger by handshake, smile, and 
word of cordial greeting; to see that he finds a good seat 
and to show visitors to the department or departments in 
which they may be especially interested; to give any de- 
sired information, to hand them, when desired, copies of 
the school paper or manual, or samples of school forms. In 
a visitors' book the names, addresses, and position in the 
Sunday school should be recorded, and the next day the 
committee should mail a card of welcome to the visitor, 
acknowledging the visit and inviting to membership or to 
further call. The follow-up work of the committee may 
yield good results, and with such treatment the record may 
be "once a visitor always a friend," a "stranger but once." 



THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 69 

(c) Supplies and fifiance committee. — This important 
committee should arrange and present for approval the 
school budget, O.K. requisitions for supplies and the bills 
therefor, cooperate with the secretary in providing for the 
proper care of supplies, outline plans for special offering, 
provide books for treasurer's accounts, suggest forms for 
such accounts, audit treasurer's books, and in general super- 
vise the financial end of the school's work. 

(d) Committee on evangelism. — This committee focuses 
the great objective of the school. It should keep in close 
touch with the superintendent. The work of Decision (or 
Acknowledgment) Day should be its special care. The 
methods, leaflets, and general literature for this day should 
be discussed by the committee and the pastor and super- 
intendent, as well as plans for decision week or for any 
special effort of this nature. Teachers', pupils 5 , and school 
prayer meetings should be planned for. The cooperation 
of the home in spiritual work, the suggestion of books for 
the teachers' library which are spiritually helpful and 
which acquaint the teacher with the spiritual problems 
and opportunities of the successive periods of child growth 
will be within the province of such a committee. 

(e) Special-days committee. — The plan in many schools 
has been to appoint a special committee for each successive 
special event. But the talent that can make interesting 
and profitable one special day should be put at continuous; 
service. Such a committee needs ample time to look well 
ahead, select or make programs, try out music, plan decora- 
tions, and get the most for the school out of every special 
day. The growth of such days in recent years makes the 
work of such a committee highly important. Among the 
days now emphasized are Rally Day, Easter, Children's Day, 
Christmas, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, 
Mothers' (or Parents') Day, and Thanksgiving. In Chapter 
XXI we shall consider these days in detail. 

(/) Social-service committee. — This committee has a wide 
scope of service. Its work includes the survey of com- 



70 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

munity needs and planning social service activities of 
classes, departments, and school, and the outlining of a 
well-considered scheme of service activities. In most 
schools classes and departments act in their benevolent 
plans without any reference to each other and to the 
needs of the church, community, and world. America has 
come to be the point of appeal for world-wide human need, 
now in China, now in Europe, now in Armenia, or all at 
once. Every school and church should do its full duty 
for all as well as for the near-by needs of the church com- 
munity and in America. Only as this whole field is studied, 
the needs presented, and the work of support assigned by a 
competent committee can justice be done. Impulse is good, 
hut fairness and sanity are better. This committee will deal 
with the employment life of the school, will survey com- 
munity conditions that need remedying, and will of course 
direct and supervise the school's ministry among the poor, 
the sick, and the shut-ins. 

(g) The social and recreation committee. — This commit- 
tee covers in its work the social, athletic, and general recre- 
ational plans of classes, departments, and the school as a 
whole, including pupils', parents', and teachers' socials, 
lectures and entertainments, camping, gymnasium, and out- 
door athletics, inter-Sunday-school athletics, picnics, hikes, 
indoor games, debates, and reading and game room. This 
committee, in common with all committees, should keep a 
scrapbook, with ideas and events. The committee should 
work out plans for the year in conference with those in- 
terested and should post these upon the bulletin board and 
see that they are otherwise advertised. 

(7i) Membership committee. — This committee is to work 
in cooperation with the membership superintendent. It 
should have a representative in each department. While 
the teacher should be primarily responsible for the visita- 
tion of absent pupils', there are many cases where, owing 
to business duties, a personal call by the teacher is not 
possible. Just here a committee is of large service. Meth- 






THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 71 

ods of outreach into the community should have the atten- 
tion of the committee, including plans for systematic visi- 
tation of school homes and occasional special visitation of 
the whole community. The committee should use the pub- 
licity man for its special membership campaigns. 

(i) Missionary committee. — This committee is to bring 
the school into intelligent contact with organized mission- 
ary endeavor in the home and foreign field, to direct the 
school, department, and class activities toward the great 
home and foreign organizations of the church and the mis- 
sionary activities of the Sunday-school board of the church. 
Methods of missionary education and successful plans for 
stimulating missionary giving and interest will be fully 
presented in Chapter XVIII. Plans for the successful ob- 
servance of missionary Sunday are no small part of the 
regular duties of this committee. Full advantage should 
be taken of the program suggestions for the monthly mis- 
sionary Sunday and of the use of pageantry, exhibit, and 
play in making the appeal of missions more graphic. 

(j) Temperance and purity committee. — We can only 
assure the fruits of the victory for prohibition in the 
United States as we keep informed and vigilant as to the 
efforts of evil forces to nullify the years of diligent edu- 
cational work aiming to drive liquor from the land. This 
school committee should prepare programs for occasional 
presentation of the splendid results of prohibition in the 
United States and other countries. Leaflet literature giv- 
ing data as to prohibition results and progress should be 
distributed. The school should be lined up for world-wide 
prohibition as a goal. The committee may include the 
work of purity. See Chapter XIX. 

(7c) Library and exhibit committee. — The pupils' and 
teachers' library, the planning for and supervision of the 
reading and game room, the preparation of and care for 
the manual and exhibit work of the Sunday school, will 
come under the duties of this committee. 

(0 Music committee. — The committee can cooperate 



72 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

with the superintendent in the improvement of the regular 
music, in arranging for solo and special music for the regu- 
lar sessions, in stenciling new hymns not in the book, in 
building up the orchestra, and in planning for hymn board 
and boxes for music books. Chapter XI will suggest 
the possibilities of the development of this committee's 
work. The selection of the music for the regular session 
must be with the superintendent. The committee should 
cooperate with the special-days committee in connection 
with the music for those days. 

(???) In general. — Where the size of the school depart- 
ments warrants, there may be department committees, cor- 
responding with the school standing committees on any par- 
ticular line, to carry out the committee plans within any 
department. In that event the chairman of the department 
committee would represent the department as its member 
of the standing committee of the school. 



Bibliography 



?nt 

>er 



Tl.e Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task. 
Cope. 

The Church School Athearn. 

The Sunday School Organized for Service. Lawrance. 
Organizing the Smaller Sunday School. Bradner. 
The Organization and Administration of the Sunday 
.ool. Cuninggim-North. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The working organization of some successful schools. 

2. School committees as a factor in Sunday-school success. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. Name five important school objectives. 

2. By whom should the superintendent be nominated, and 
by whom confirmed? 

3. Into what general divisions may the Sunday school 
be divided? 



THE SCHOOL ORGANIZED 73 

4. Name the essential officers in a fully organized school 
of good size. 

5. What other chief helpers not officers would you name? 

6. Name at least five important school standing commit- 
tees, with a brief description of the work of each. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 

The officers and chairmen of whatever standing commit- 
tees a school may have constitute the administrative staff. 
The selection and training of his staff by the superintendent 
is at least of equal importance with the selection and train- 
ing of the teachers. Much of the success of the school de- 
pends on these leaders, for they in turn inspire and help 
and interest both teachers and pupils. 

We have probably two million officers, including, of 
course, department heads, in the Sunday schools of Amer- 
ica. Very few of these have had any special training for 
their important task. In the last five years the training of 
Sunday-school executives has been increasingly emphasized. 
Textbooks specializing upon the work of these officers and 
upon any phases of the work of administration have been 
produced and are available for study and reading by pros- 
pective officers. 

1. How to recruit the administrative staff. There 
are several ways in which a superintendent can recruit 
his staff. He can utilize public-school teachers, who have 
presumably some preparation for such service. He can se- 
lect a few promising young people and promote their at- 
tendance upon the summer schools of religious education 
held by the denominational boards and such Sunday-school 
summer-training schools for leaders as are held at Lake 
Geneva, Wisconsin, and Lake Winnepesaukee, New Hamp- 
shire, by the International Sunday School Association. Or 
he can encourage these prospects to take a correspondence 
training course for officers through the denominational 
Sunday-school board. 

A simple and practical method is to promote a leadership- 
training class in his own school and to invite to membership 

74 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 75 

in that class any who show any aptitude for executive work. 
This class can meet during the Sunday-school hour or on a 
week-night. It is surprising how young people will be chal- 
lenged by such an opportunity. There are very many who 
would like to undertake the work of leadership but hesitate 
because they do not know how. The leadership-training 
class solves that question. 

Some years ago I asked each class of the Young People's 
Department of my school to designate one or more of its 
members to be trained for executive leadership in the school. 
More than thirty young people between eighteen and 
twenty-four responded. Without breaking their relation- 
ship to their old classes these were formed into a class that 
met during the Sunday-school hour. For three months the 
class, with notebooks and pencils, took up with their leader, 
a public-school teacher, twelve lessons on the Sunday school 
as an institution — its history, purposes, and plans. These 
young people then chose their line of specialization for fu- 
ture service. Some chose the work of Sunday-school sec- 
retary, others missionary education, and a dozen formed 
themselves into a special social-service class, using The 
Social Creed of the Churches as a textbook and making a 
survey of the neighborhood, and these qualified for the 
social-service committee of the school. 

Specialization courses are now available for practically 
every officer of the Sunday school. 1 The chief joy and ad- 
vantage of it all is that the superintendent need not carry 
the entire load of the work, but, through the training of 
young people and older people as his helpers, he can multi- 
ply himself and train his successors for service. 

Often excellent material for future officers can be found 
in the officers of the organized classes. One advantage here 
is that these have been tested by a certain amount of ex- 
perience, and their election indicates the opinion of a group 
as to their fitness for leadership. 



1 Write to your denominational Sunday-school board, asking for infor- 
mation on specialization courses for administrative officers. 



76 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

2. How to cultivate the staff. An Ohio business man, 
a part owner in a factory and a Sunday-school superinten- 
dent, applied the following efficiency test to his school of- 
Heers, assistants, and department heads: 

(1) Name (2) Address (3) Experience 

in the Sunday school (4) Health (5) Willingness 

to cooperate with superintendent (6) Religious life 

(7) Attitude toward other leaders in the school 

(8) Enthusiasm for his work (9) Punctual- 
ity (10) Regularity (11) Time devoted to 

his work (12) Reports (13) Condition of 

his records (14) Tenure of office (15) 

Adapted to present office or some other (16) Any 

place in the Sunday school where he would do better work 
(17) Any place where he would be happier 

The officers constitute the superintendent's special class, 
and he, as their leader, should seek to bring each member 
up to his best. He should look to the careful selection of 
a library for officers, covering the various departments and 
lines of service, and see that the librarian keeps these 
books in circulation among his subordinates. He should 
hold a monthly officers' conference or a cabinet meeting, in 
which a chapter of a standard book on Sunday-school or- 
ganization can be read and also discussed. One superin- 
tendent met his officers once a week at a luncheon confer- 
ence at the chamber of commerce. An annual social get- 
together of all school officers and special helpers, aside from 
teachers, with topics relating to the school organization, 
will be worth while. 

The superintendent should have officers' prayer meetings 
or take a definite time at the regular cabinet meeting for 
prayer for themselves, for teachers, pupils, parents, and 
the neighborhood, that the spiritual passion and purpose of 
the school shall be kept constantly at the heart of the work. 

He may remember the officers' birthdays by a special let- 
ter, which shall be a boost for the coming year. I have 
hefore me a reply from one of my officers, the school choris- 
ter, to whom, on his birthday, I had written a word of hon- 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 77 

est praise for his splendid work and told him how big a 
part he was taking in the school success; and he says, "I 
shall always keep and treasure your letter." 

The superintendent will see that copies of The Church 
School are kept in circulation among these officers. Indeed, 
he should see that copies are subscribed for for each of 
these officers. And whenever he finds anything worth while 
to enlarge the vision or skill of any assistant, he will clip it 
or suggest it. 

He will send them to good schools to observe their par- 
ticular line of work and to garner ideas for themselves and 
other officers, reporting at the next cabinet meeting. He 
will encourage their attendance at any local and State- 
association institute for Sunday-school officers. 

He will promote initiative, give them definite jobs, and 
then a full chance for its execution. He will encourage 
teamwork. Connie Mack, the baseball manager, had this 
art in a high degree. He made every man feel he was keen 
on him, never scolding nor reprimanding him in the pres- 
ence of others, and, after a blunder had been made, taking 
the blunderer aside and asking him how he happened to 
err, at the same time encouraging him to make good next 
time. Instead of posing as an instructor he would suggest, 
"Did you ever see Ty Cobb slide?" And his sunny per- 
sonality created an atmosphere that made the best team- 
work possible. 

Push your officers and helpers forward. Give them a 
chance at the platform occasionally and speak a word of 
honest commendation both privately and publicly. 

Don't expect every man to be 100-per-cent good. We all 
have our strong and weak points. Make the most of the 
strong and forget the others. 

3. The staff in action. Under Chapter V the principal 
duties of each staff officer have been briefly suggested. 
In succeeding chapters the service of the departmental of- 
ficers, educational superintendent, and other school officers 
and committees will be described. In this chapter the 



78 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

duties of the school secretary, treasurer, and librarian are 
outlined. 

4. The secretary. The efficient secretary is an impor- 
tant aid to any superintendent or school. If he has served 
long and well, his name should be writ large on an imper- 
ishable roll of honor. He can double the efficiency of a 
good superintendent. By his tact and enterprise he can be 
a school builder or by his crankiness he can retard the 
wheels of progress. 

It takes a man of superior mold to stand graciously the 
clerical blunders and lack of thoughtfulness of many teach- 
ers; and the higher the secretary's standard the more oc- 
casion will he have to exercise the grace of sublime patience. 

The secretary is entitled to a separate room or at least 
to a corner of the schoolroom. A desk of adequate size will 
give him a chance to keep his files and papers under lock 
and key. A cabinet for supplies and records should be 
furnished and as complete a business outfit as can be af- 
forded. 

There may also be opportunity in the large school of train- 
ing young men or young women for service by distributing 
parts of the secretarial work among assistants, such as a 
birthday secretary, a membership secretary (for enroll- 
ments and absentees), a statistical secretary, and a record- 
ing secretary. 

(1) His general duties. — (a) Supplies. — Their ordering, 
record, and care. (&) The pupil. — His enrollment and re- 
cording, welcoming by letter or certificate or both; recording 
his attendance and progress in the school and in church 
membership and service, following up the absentee, recog- 
nition of his attainments through school honors; his dis- 
charge through removal or death, (c) The teacher. — Notifi- 
cation of election; welcome to school. fellowship; list of 
pupils and addresses, and instruction in class duties; 
distribution and collection of class records and offering 
so as not to disturb the classes; invitation to teachers' 
gatherings; a school record; keeping an "in memoriam" 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 79 

list, (d) Reports. — Weekly to superintendent and school, 
showing attendance, comparison, number absent, new 
pupils and pupils transferred to other schools; gain or 
loss in enrollment; Bibles. This may be a blackboard or 
register board record. Monthly to class and school, show- 
ing relative standing of classes and indicating points of 
encouragement in the progress of different classes. Quar- 
terly to the pupil, showing attendance, offering, class rec- 
ord; to the parents of pupils below the Senior Department, 
indicating attendance, offering, and lesson studying for 
the quarter; to the school, covering attendance and per- 
centage relative to the standing of classes. Yearly to pupils 
as to the individual record, and to the school as to the school 
attendance enrollment, new pupils, cancellations, and such 
a presentation, showing methods and spirit of school 
progress, as will make it a valuable document, (e) Busi- 
ness meetings. — Presentation of report of school attendance 
and progress, recording of minutes, careful preservation of 
committee and department reports. (/) Historical record. 
— This may be in the form of a loose-leaf scrapbook for 
many facts in school record, resume of school progress, 
special events, programs, notable visitors, new plans. This 
may be filed away as an annual volume, (g) Other duties. 
— The record of the church membership of the pupils is 
important, so that the superintendent and teacher may 
know who are and who are not connected with the 
church. The Sunday-school record of the church members 
should be known, to follow up the church members who 
should be in the Sunday school. He should make a special 
study of plans of distribution and conservation of the school 
supplies, particularly hymnbooks and lesson helps, and 
make recommendations on these matters to the cabinet. 
He can encourage the classes to make monthly reports of 
items of special interest relative to their growth and service 
for report to the superintendent, school, and workers' con- 
ference. The visitors should be recorded in a visitors' regis- 
ter, showing name, address, position occupied; and a card 



SO THE SUPERINTENDENT 

or letter of recognition of visit sent by the secretary or 
friendly-grip committee. As editor of the Sunday-school 
paper or bulletin or reporter of school items to the local 
paper the secretary has a special opportunity for good serv- 
ice. Plans for school advertising are indicated in Chapter 
XXIV. His special relation to pupil, teacher, and the home 
are indicated in later chapters. 

(2) Record systems. — "Of the making of many [record] 
books there is no end." There are books many and sys- 
tems many for the record of the pupil, the class, and the 
school statistics. A school can devise its own system, print- 
ing its books and forms to suit local needs, or it can look 
carefully into published plans, of which many have special 
excellencies, and adapt to the school use the books and 
systems which suit best. The following may be suggested 
as record essentials: 

(a) Booh for weekly, quarterly, and yearly summary of 
class and school statistics, showing attendance, offering 
record by departments, new and dismissed pupils, Bible 
record, banner and star classes, deaths, visitors. 

(o) Class records. — These may be by class books or 
class cards. The ruling and marking of these will follow 
the plan determined upon by the school for its honors, such 
as attendance, "on time," lesson preparation, offering, de- 
portment, Bibles, and church attendance. 

A plan with good features is to have an individual card 
for each pupil's class record, the teacher selecting the cards 
of those present, marking and returning them to the class 
envelope. The cards remaining out represent the absentees, 
who can thus receive immediate attention by the secretary 
in such cases where it is understood the teacher cannot 
visit. 

Where the lesson study is a point in the marking, the 
record should not be made until the close of the lesson. 
Care should be taken that the system be not too complex. 
Where most of the marks are the same from Sunday to 
Sunday, the marking, even if it involves several details, can, 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 81 

with the help of one of the scholars on certain details, be 
swiftly done. 

Some schools make it a point to copy the class record 
into a permanent school record in loose-leaf form or in a 
class card-index form. 

(c) Card files. — For the pupils' enrollment and other rec- 
ords the card index is the preferred plan and is widely 
used in schools large and small. It economizes space and 
time and is the best for ready reference. Library bureaus, 
card-index concerns, and large stationers can furnish these 
card-index cases. A few special forms of card indexes may 
be described: Alphabetical enrollment index: This card 
may show the name, address, birthday, age; whether pupil 
or parents are members of the church, and relation of other 
members of the family; grade in public school; a list of 
the school departments, to show record of progress; date of 
joining church; cancellation and reason; and remarks. On 
the reverse can be given concretely the yearly record of 
attendance, honors, and any notable fact worthy of record. 
The teacher's file card should be of different color. There 
should be one complete school card index, but each depart- 
ment may keep a card index as well of its own members 
and pass on its members with these cards at promotion time. 
Birthday card index: This provides for the complete birth- 
day enrollment of the school, arranged by months, the dates 
coming in regular order. This will show the month and 
date and name and address, department, class, whether 
teacher or pupil, and age at joining, so that the remem- 
brance can be fitted to the years. A large school may have 
a separate card index for each department, and remem- 
brances may be sent out by the department secretary or 
superintendent. The family street index: This card index 
should indicate, under the family name or street number, 
the entire membership of each school family, showing those 
belonging to the school and the department, whether church 
members and when visited, and any leading facts that 
would help pastor, superintendent, or visitor as a line of 



82 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

approach. If this index were arranged by streets, a visitor 
could hunch calls, and, if a general neighborhood visitation 
were contemplated, the omission of numbers in any street 
would indicate those who were not members. In mailing 
notices or invitations one would find that this index would 
make for economy of time and money. 

(d) Serviceable forms. — All the forms used by the school 
should be represented, for reference, in a permanent form 
scrapbook. Among such forms may be named: cards (vis- 
itors', absentee, pupils' and teachers' enrollment, cancella- 
tion, vacation attendance, transfer or promotion, and change 
of address) ; letters (welcome to pupil and teacher; birth- 
day; to parents concerning written work, examination, or 
supplemental work; for promotion, for merit work, rolls 
of honor, and star classes) ; forms of supplies, methods of 
marking reports of teacher and secretary, and for general 
use. 

(e) Using the records. — The school records have their 
value in their wise use as inspiration and spurs to pupil, 
teacher, and superintendent. They should indicate the 
profit and loss of the concern, as well as points of leakage 
and of salvage. The superintendent and his secretary 
should together strive for honesty in enrollment, for an 
attendance that shall steadily bridge the gap between it 
and the school enrollment, for quality in the work accom- 
plished, and for the largest enrollment that can be ef- 
fectively cared for. 

5. The treasurer's office. We are passing into a new 
era of Sunday-school giving. "Hear the pennies dropping" 
has made Christ and his church the direction of the cheap- 
est coin in the realm and has cheapened the child's estimate 
of the church. The church is awaking to the necessity of 
beginning in the earliest years its training in regular and 
intelligent giving. The child's partnership in the carrying 
on of church and Sunday school is being emphasized. Stress 
is being laid upon the motive in giving as well as upon the 
amount. 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 83 

(1) Steivardship. — The principle of stewardship, if it is 
to become effective in the life of the church of to-morrow, 
must be emphasized and practiced in the Sunday school of 
to-day. "Earn all you can, give all you can" was drilled 
into the mind of a Pittsburgh boy, and in later years, as a 
prosperous business man, H. J. Heinz gave consistently and 
largely and when he died bequeathed $400,000 in his will 
to the Sunday-school work of his city, State, America, and 
the world. 

The school, through its treasurer and financial commit- 
tee, should keep steadily before pupils and teachers, 
through literature and platform, the matter of stewardship. 
The duplex-envelope system, with the use of one side for 
local expenses and the other for benevolences, will help 
this educational work. It will also mean increased funds 
for the work of the school. Especially will this be true if 
the school is regularly informed as to just how the money 
is spent. 

(2) The treasurer. — Wherever possible, this should be 
an office separate from that of the secretary. The office 
involves some knowledge of accounts, so that the different 
school funds can be properly entered and checked up. Vouch- 
ers should be asked for in all payments, and the accounts 
audited annually. The funds should be paid out on the O.K. 
of the proper committee. 

The treasurer should present weekly, quarterly, and an- 
nual reports. The weekly offering should be posted on the 
register board or blackboard. Treasurers' registers, with 
forms for reports and accounts, may be procured from 
Sunday-school supply houses. The treasurer can put vital- 
ity into the school's finances by his suggestions, plans, and 
comparisons. Where the pupil's weekly envelope plan is 
maintained, his office will be a busy one. In that case he 
can employ an assistant, as school financial secretary, to 
help in the detail of the envelopes and their record. He 
should be a man of tact and leniency, for he will discover 
that the average teacher is not a bookkeeper, and the of- 



84 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

fering will not always tally with the amount indicated. 
He may even turn his attention to coin collection as a side 
issue, for many a quaint and curious coin will find its way 
to the school coffers. He should be familiar with the many 
novel collection devices for the Sunday school, such as the 
yard of pennies, the dollar bags used by the Pilgrim Con- 
gregational Sunday School of Dorchester, Massachusetts, 
and have these ready for suggestion as special need arises. 
His will be a valued service to the school which should not 
be less recognized because it is not a spectacular one. 

(3) The school's finances. — Inasmuch as the Sunday 
school is really a part of the church, and its work is a 
vital factor in the success of the church, the Sunday school 
is entitled to the support of the church. There is no reason 
why the expenses of the Sunday school should not be paid 
by the church as representing one branch of the church's 
activity. Not a few of our churches have recognized this 
as a principle, and in some cases the Sunday school has been 
thus supported for many years. A great advantage of this 
plan is that it leaves the Sunday school free, through 
holding before its members for their support the great 
benevolent enterprises of the church instead of merely 
asking them to pay the running expenses of the Sunday 
school itself, to educate its members in giving. Lack of a 
proper emphasis upon the value and importance of the 
Sunday school as the church school and absolutely vital to 
church success causes many churches to withhold financial 
support from the school. But this, we trust, will soon be 
overcome by the rising tide of interest throughout the coun- 
try and the church in the great work of religious education. 
Even where the church is unwilling to assume the entire 
support of the school, it may be possible to obtain an ap- 
propriation toward the school's expenses; the school, on the 
other hand, making a contribution toward the church. This 
plan will bind the church and school together in a way 
much to be desired. The ideal plan is for the church to 
assume the entire support of the Sunday school as a regu- 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 85 

lar part of its budget and to have the pupils' offering, 
through the duplex envelope, go in part to church support 
and in part to missions and other benevolences. And these 
benevolent enterprises should be presented attractively to 
the pupils as a part of the educational plans of the church 
for liberal and informed giving. 

In such a plan, however, it is of primary importance that 
the Sunday-school officers shall so present the needs of the 
school to the church board that generous provision shall be 
made for the enlarged need of the school as compared with 
a generation back. Many official boards are composed in 
good part of those who, brought up in Sunday schools of a 
few decades ago, do not realize the strides that have been 
made, requiring enlarged and better equipment for the mod- 
ern Sunday school. 

(4) The school budget. — The businesslike method is for 
a school to agree, at the beginning of the school year, upon 
a budget. This budget should be a matter of conference 
with department heads and committee chairmen and should 
provide for a spending amount for these departments and 
committees as well as for the general school expenses. This 
budget should then be prorated among the departments, and 
each department should accept responsibility to raise its 
share based upon pledges of the pupils. The Senior, Young 
People's, and Adult Departments will of course assume the 
bulk of the budget. A careful letter to parents of the young 
children will win their cooperation, especially where the 
school is not vending tickets for a variety of causes. Ex* 
cept for understood special causes appeals for money should 
be eliminated. Let us hope the day is past when the school 
has to depend on penny offerings and strawberry festivals 
to carry on its important program. 

(5) Special offerings. — The causes should be carefully 
explained, that the giving may be intelligent, and special 
envelopes may be distributed on the Sunday previous to the 
date of offering. In some cases the week between may be 
used as a self-denial week. The special days of the year, 



86 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

such as Easter, Children's Day, Rally Day, and Christmas, 
each has its specially designated offering in most Sunday 
schools. Under "Special Days" these will be considered. 

(6) Missionary offering. — This comes with many schools 
as a monthly feature, sometimes as a quarterly or yearly 
offering. Plans for increasing interest in it will be dis- 
cussed in the chapter on "Missions. " 

(7) The birthday offering. — A bank or box should be 
placed in each department for this. It will be helped if 
with the birthday recognition in the department a small 
envelope is sent with the birthday letter, and by informa- 
tion as to the purpose of the fund. This fund should usually 
be applied to some benevolence, such as the support of a 
hospital bed or the support of an orphan or a mission 
student. 

6. The librarian's office. Admitting the entry of the 
public library and the public-school library into the field 
formerly occupied almost exclusively by the Sunday-school 
library, there still remains to the Sunday school the special 
field of libraries for parents and workers and the mis- 
sionary library. There are numerous towns, villages, and 
newer settlements where the Sunday-school library occupies 
the field alone. While the demand for Sunday-school li- 
braries of the old type has practically ceased, the Sunday 
school is obligated either to supply books of the best charac- 
ter to its young people or to guide their taste by suggestions 
of books in the public library. In many city schools there 
is room for a strong, limited library made up of books that 
may not be available in the public library. 

(1) The library committee. — The librarian and educa- 
tional superintendent should be members of this commit^ 
tee. The committee is to select books and devise methods of 
record and of getting books into circulation. Any book ad- 
mitted to the library should have the written O.K. of at 
least two members of the committee to the effect that the 
book has been read and is recommended. Books should 
be added monthly under a school apportionment. This 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 87 

will give time for careful selection by the committee and 
will keep the library regularly freshened. The committee 
should have a representative on it from each department 
of the school, and this representative should be especially 
charged with promoting the circulation of the books for 
teachers and pupils of the department. This committee 
should make up lists of books in public libraries for pupils, 
parents, and teachers. The public libraries will frequently 
be glad to add books suggested by such committees and in 
some places will box and send to the Sunday school, for 
use for a period of time, sets of selected books. 

(2) The librarian. — The librarian should have some taste 
as to books and should be able to talk up the books, so that 
a demand will be created for them. As far as possible he 
should know the pupils' needs, so that he may suggest the 
right books, as the title frequently is no guide. It is no 
small privilege to introduce young people to books that may 
become their teachers and lifelong influences in shaping 
character and ideals. The librarian can create interest in 
the library by bulletin-board announcements of special 
books, by platform talks on such topics as "What Books 
Influenced Me Most," "How Books Helped Me," and in the 
story of the writing of some great books. He should en- 
courage pupils to start personal libraries by suggesting a 
one- or two- or three-foot book shelf. Women often make 
excellent librarians. 

(3) The library. — Funds for the library may be provided 
by an occasional special offering, or from the birthday fund, 
or as a regular monthly appropriation from the Sunday- 
school treasury. A book social may have the double value 
of raising funds and acquainting young people with books 
and authors. Young people can dress in costumes suggest- 
ing well-known books or authors. A chapter may be read 
in some good book. The church may also give a book 
shower for a workers' library. A list of desired books may 
be passed around in the congregation, a check placed 
against the book to be given, and the donor's name in- 



88 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

scribed in the book. To assist selection the books should 
be catalogued by school departments and by classes, under 
sections such as biography, history, missionary. New books 
should be posted, with a brief word of description, on a 
bulletin board. Probably the simplest library system is to 
have a separate vertical compartment for each book num- 
bered the same as the book. Make out cards for the pupil 
in duplicate, one to be kept by the pupil, the other 
placed in an alphabetically arranged filing rack. When a 
book is desired, the librarian takes it from the compart- 
ment and substitutes for it the pupil's card from the alpha- 
betical rack, marking on that card the date taken. This 
eliminates bookkeeping. A review of the book compart- 
ment cards will show the number of weeks the book is out. 
Usually two weeks is the limit set. The library cases 
should be kept closed or effectually covered when not in 
use. 

If possible, a library room should be provided. This may 
be used for books applicable to other church organizations. 
This room may be open on certain evenings, and games and 
magazines added for interest. On the walls of such a li- 
brary room should be suggestive mottoes such as "Show 
me a family of readers and I will show you a family of 
leaders" (Napoleon) ; "Reading is seeing by proxy" 
(Spencer); "A wise mother and good books enabled me to 
succeed in life" (Henry Clay) ; "A library is not a luxury 
but a necessity" (Beecher) ; "The best university I know 
is a shelf of books" (Carlyle). 

(4) Library contents. — In addition to workers', parents', 
and missionary sections (referred to below) there are many 
wholesome books of biography, travel, hero classics, his- 
tory, science, adventure, and best fiction, which our young 
people will eagerly read. Each department of the school 
should have a fair share in the library. The school should 
subscribe for some of the best magazines and papers for 
boys and girls. These periodicals could be kept in the 
reading room or marked as the school property and kept in 



THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 89 

circulation among the classes to which they would more 
nearly apply. 

(5) The workers' library. — This should be composed of 
books of reference to assist teachers in the preparation of 
the lessons and of books for officers and teachers to broaden 
their vision and increase their efficiency in service. Depart- 
ment specialization should be generously represented in 
this library. 

The cost of the library may be defrayed by an appro- 
priation from the school treasury or through a monthly 
payment by each teacher of five or ten cents. 

The department member of the library committee should 
have charge of the specialization books for the department 
workers and see that they are kept in circulation. An ex- 
cellent plan is to place on the flyleaf or within the cover of 
each book the list of the workers to whom the book is to 
go and a place for the date when received. The book may 
be handed to the one first on the list with the request that 
it be passed to the next on the list after reading. 

Upon request of several of the local Sunday schools the 
public library may be glad to add to its shelves selected 
books for Sunday-school workers. A complete list of the 
teachers' library, departmentalized, should be placed in the 
hands of each officer and teacher. This list should include 
some brief devotional books by such authors as Speer, Mott, 
and Gordon. 

In introducing certain books to the attention of workers 
a good plan is to have it read by a teacher or officer and 
then reviewed at the monthly workers' conference; or a 
teacher's problem can be suggested at the workers' con- 
ference, and the following month the answer given from 
some book by a teacher to whom the problem has been as- 
signed. 

(6) The missionary library. — This will receive special 
attention in Chapter XVIII. 

(7) Parents' library. — There is distinct need of books in 
the Sunday-school library for parents and members of the 



90 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Home Department, books of general interest, of mission- 
ary life, and those dealing with parents' problems in the 
training of children, books to be read to children, 
magazines for the home — such as: The Mother Artist, 
Mills; The Child's Religions Life, Koons; What Shall I Tell 
the Children? Reichel; Nursery Ethics, Winterburn; The 
Parent and the Child, Cope; The Unfolding Life, Lamoreaux; 
and Child Nature and Child Nurture, St. John. Where 
there is a monthly social or other gathering of the parents 
of the school or a parents' or mothers' association, these 
books can be spoken of and circulated. The money for this 
library might be easily contributed by the mothers, who 
should have a list of the books for proper selection. Such 
a list should be classified according to the interest of the 
parents in younger or older children or young people, for 
the problems differ radically. 

Bibliography 

Sunday School Officers' Manual, Brown. 
The Sunday School Secretary, McEntire. 
Church Finance, Agar. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. Methods of stimulating the offering. 

2. Ways of cooperation between the Sunday school and 
the public library. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. How can a superintendent train his staff? 

2. State methods of promoting teamwork among his staff. 

3. What are some of the specific duties of the Sunday- 
school secretary? 

4. What business plan of indexes and records is coming 
into favor? 

5. How can the records serve to stimulate the school 
work? 

6. What should a gift really represent? 






THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 91 

7. What method has stimulated Sunday-school giving in 
many schools? 

8. How should the school be supported? 

9. What three classes of books should be specialized in 
Sunday-school libraries of to-day? 

10. How can the aid of the public library be obtained for 
the Sunday school? 



CHAPTER VII 
DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 

Among the reasons for department organization are: 
(1) to adapt the expressional and teaching methods and ma- 
terial to the mental, physical, and spiritual capacities of 
the pupils; (2) to associate pupils of the same age and like 
mental development, so that they shall be companionable 
and may progress together from grade to grade and de- 
partment to department; (3) to associate teachers who will 
be dealing with the same problems as to pupils and teach- 
ing; (4) to foster a larger school interest by promoting a 
strong department spirit through such means as department 
standard, motto, button, and a friendly rivalry with other 
departments as to attendance and work; (5) to bring the 
parents into closer touch with the school through the de- 
partment parents' social and other gatherings. 

In many of our schools it seems necessary for the pres- 
ent, owing to the structure of the building, to maintain an 
assembly of the entire school, with the exception of the be- 
ginners' and primary groups, for the service of worship. 
Even in such schools it is urged that there be department 
organization, supervision, and recognition, and the promo- 
tion of department ideals within the limits imposed. It is 
urged, of course, that every school aim for the ideal of a 
separate room for each departmental group. Where this is 
impracticable, provision should be made for separate rooms 
for the beginners' and primary groups,' or, at worst, one 
room in which both can assemble. If there are but two 
rooms in all, the juniors should assemble with the rest of 
the school. Where three rooms are possible, give the sec- 
ond room to the juniors and combine the intermediate, 
senior, young people's, and adult classes in a general as- 
sembly. 

92 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 93 

In any event it is important that pupils of the same age 
be kept in the same class, and that mixed classes be avoided 
in the Junitfr, Intermediate, and Senior Departments. 

The problems of the country and village school will re- 
ceive attention in a special chapter; but in these schools it 
is possible in the average case to constitute one class each 
for the primary, junior, intermediate, senior, young people's, 
and adult ages, and possibly a beginners' and a teacher- 
training class, so that in principle and actually the school 
will be departmentalized; and in lesson materials, in 
manual and supplemental work, and in promotions this 
department distinction can be recognized. 

The separation of departments by curtairs or screens, as 
indicated in previous chapters, is to be suggested where 
more complete separation is not practicable. 

The standard training courses of the denominations and 
the International Sunday School Association are especially 
designed to prepare teachers as department workers 
through the specialization books written by experts in de- 
partment organization and work. 

The number of department officers and helpers will of 
course depend on the size of the department. The depart- 
ment superintendent, one or more assistants, musician, and 
secretary constitute the usual staff. In the small schools 
the department superintendent may teach the lesson as 
well as manage department details, particularly in the 
Children's Division. 

Department standing committees should correspond with 
the standing committees of the school where there are suf- 
ficient workers to make such organization desirable. 

In the smaller school the general superintendent will 
have to plan for the interclass or interdepartment activities. 
Where there are divisional superintendents for the Chil- 
dren's, Young People's, and Adult Divisions, as may be the 
case in large schools, those superintendents, in cooperation 
with the department superintendents, can plan for such in- 
terdepartment affairs as Children's Week for the Children's 



94 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Division, father-and-son and mother-and-daughter banquets 
for the Young People's Division, and a family altar or a 
drive to enlist every parent and adult in the home in some 
department of the school for the Adult Division. 

Departmental workers' conferences will be considered in 
connection with the chapter on that subject. 

The departments treated are the Cradle Roll, Beginners', 
Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Young People's, 
Adult (including Parents), Home, and Teacher Training. 

1. Cradle Roll Department. (1) How to start. — 
(a) Elect a superintendent who can give time to visitation 
and who will work in close relation to the superintendent 
or teacher of the Beginners' and Primary Departments. 
(&) Obtain from your denominational publishing house the 
needed Cradle Roll supplies, including application, enroll- 
ment cards, birthday cards, membership certificates, pro- 
motion certificates, birthday book, and cradle roll. (c) 
Advertise a campaign for Cradle Roll members. Give out 
enrollment cards to younger children to enroll baby brother 
or sister, (d) Get your pastor to speak of the plan in 
church services and to carry enrollment cards on his calls. 
(e) Have a house-to-house Cradle Roll canvass. (/) Enroll 
every baptized baby on the roll. 

(2) Recognition of members. — (a) Present an attractive 
Cradle Roll Certificate of membership to the mother, (b) 
Write the name of every new baby upon a card and place 
it in a toy cradle, the children repeating a brief welcome to 
the new member. 

(3) Plans to promote interest. — (a) Enroll the baby's 
name upon a Cradle Roll chart to be hung in some con- 
spicuous place in the beginners' or primary room. (&) 
Ask the mother for baby's picture and place it with other 
pictures in a frame to be hung upon the wall, (c) Keep a 
"Heavenly Cradle Roll" for names of babies who have died. 
(d) Have prayer offered for babies and parents in opening 
services of beginners' and primary classes or in the open- 
ing service of the Cradle Roll class of older Cradle Roll 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 95 

members, (e) Recognize baby's birthday by a birthday 
card or letter to parents or some simple gift. (/) Suggest 
to parents a birthday offering for a fund in support of a 
child's bed in a hospital, (g) Visit the home when a baby 
is sick or has died, (h) Distribute mothers' or home papers 
or magazines during calls, (i) Get your pastor to call upon 
Cradle Roll parents. (One pastor received three hundred 
church members in one year from such calls.) (j) Have 
an occasional birthday party for the babies and mothers. 
(fc) Invite mothers to special school occasions. On Christ- 
mas have a special Cradle Roll tree and party. (Z) If the 
school should have any outdoor procession, have mothers 
of Cradle Roll babies trim their gocarts or carriages with 
flowers, flags, and bunting, (m) Present a certificate of 
promotion when baby advances to the Beginners' Depart- 
ment, (n) Form a class of Cradle Roll children when 
they reach two or three years of age. These babies can sit 
on low chairs about a low table and be kept happily in- 
terested by song, exercises, and stories, and with crayon 
and paste and pictures can fill out some lesson design that 
will carry home some simple truth, (o) Form a class of 
Cradle Roll mothers to be taught a lesson while the little 
children are in session. Promote the mothers' class when 
children are promoted and start a new mothers' class, (p) 
Ask mothers to present as gifts to the beginners' or primary 
rooms, where there is not a Cradle Roll room, copies of such 
great subjects as the "Sistine Madonna" or Raphael's "Ma- 
donna of the Chair." (q) Secure, if possible, a separate 
classroom for the Cradle Roll class and its mothers, (r) 
Cooperate with the superintendents of the Beginners' and 
Primary Departments in forming a mothers' or parents' 
association, with a monthly meeting for social and edu- 
cational purposes, (s) Drive annually for new members 
during Children's Week, on Baby Sunday, or on Children's 
Day. 

(4) Equipment of Cradle Roll room. — Gradually schools 
will provide for a Cradle Roll classroom for the older mem- 



96 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

bers of the Cradle Roll and their mothers. When that 
happy day comes to any Cradle Roll superintendent, the 
pictures and other appliances suggested above will be 
transferred to such a room. In addition there should be a 
sand table, a play table, a cabinet for equipment, material 
for object lessons, kindergarten blocks, beads, peg boards, 
colored cards, and muslin books for pasting pictures. In 
one Cradle Roll class, in the First Baptist Sunday School 
of Kansas City, the superintendent taught the lesson of 
Christ and the draft of fishes with a real net, tiny boats, 
and little fish to make it realistic. Toy fish would do just 
as well, of course. Little souvenirs of the lesson are taken 
home by the children. 

2. The Beginners' Department. (1) Age and lessons. 
— The Beginners' Department is for those under six and 
over three years of age. Two years of department graded 
lessons are provided for the beginners. The four-year-old 
lessons can first be taught in the beginners' class or classes 
one year, and the five-year-old lessons the next. These les- 
sons are beautifully illustrated with large, uncolored pic- 
tures for class use, and with smaller copies for the use of 
the pupils. 

(2) Room and equipment. — Aim for a separate room for 
the beginners, with plenty of sunshine and air, and with 
room enough for marching and equipment. Decorate in 
soft shades of green or tan, with darker woodwork of green 
and brown. These are best from point of softness and light- 
ing. A carpet, or linoleum, should be dull brown or 
green. Have low tables and chairs rubber tipped. Deco- 
rate the walls with grouped pictures of the children fur- 
nished by parents and with copies of the masters, such as 
"The Boy Samuel" and "The Age of Innocence" (Reynolds), 
"Nativity" (Mueller), "The Christ Child" and "The Divine 
Shepherd" (Murillo), "The Announcement to the Shep- 
herds" (Hofmann), "The Arrival of the Shepherds" (Le 
Rolle), "The Lost Sheep" (Shourd), "A Little Child Shall 
Lead Them" (Strutt), "Jesus Blessing Children" (Plock- 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 97 

horst), "Christ Child" (Sinkel), "The Holy Night" (Cor- 
reggio). There should be a cupboard, or cabinet, for sup- 
plies; hooks for children's wraps, low hooks or zinc boxes 
for rubbers, sand table, blackboard, mounting or folding 
paper in all colors, growing plants, and vases for berry- 
leaves and flowers. 

Where a separate room for the department is not possible 
in the church, one may possibly be provided in the parson- 
age. If that is not feasible, use a corner of the primary 
room or a room screened by curtains or blackboard. It 
may be necessary in that event to meet with the primary 
children for the service of worship and to separate for 
the lesson teaching. In summer, if possible, meet out-of- 
doors under a tree or tent. 

(3) Officers. — A beginners' superintendent or class 
teacher, with assistant, should be appointed; and where 
the department is of sufficient size, a secretary and mu- 
sician should be added. These officers should love children 
and be personally attractive. 

(4) Mothers' class. — Organize the mothers who come fre- 
quently with the younger children into a beginners' moth- 
ers' class, to be taught the lesson, at some point in the ex- 
ercises, in a corner of the beginners' room or in a separate 
place. This mothers' class should go forward as a primary 
mothers' class when the children are promoted. This class, 
together with the Cradle Roll mothers' class, and the moth- 
ers generally of these three departments should be organ- 
ized, with the teachers, into a parent-teacher association. A 
monthly meeting, with program, should be held. A moth- 
ers' library should be an adjunct of such an organization. 
Frequently these young mothers have been pupils or teach- 
ers in the school and can be drawn upon by the superin- 
tendent as teachers and helpers. 

(5) Programs. — Full programs for Children's Division 
departments are furnished in specialization books for teach- 
ers, in the denominational journals, in The Church School, 
and in the departmental leaflet literature of the denomina- 



98 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

tions. In other chapters of this book special suggestions 
are made for departmental workers. 

(6) Promotion. — On the annual promotion day have the 
class recite the memory tests and class hymn and present 
each pupil with a promotion certificate. 

3. The Primary Department. (1) Organization. — 
This department is for pupils of six, seven, and eight years. 
Normally there should be at least three classes, using the 
International Graded Lessons. In small schools, with the 
use of the group lessons, the same lesson can be taught to 
the entire department by the superintendent. The uniform 
lessons should be displaced by the newer group or closely 
graded lessons. 

The rapid growth of the body and brain of the child from 
six to eight and the sensitiveness to impression make neces- 
sary special exercises and the right equipment to meet the 
growing needs. The assistants or teachers should look 
after the groups of children as to seating order, visitation, 
and supplemental lessons; and the secretary, in addition to 
keeping the usual records, should remember the pupils on 
their birthdays. 

(2) Equipment. — The primary class or department 
should, if possible, be separated from the rest of the school 
by soundproof walls. If this is not possible, partition, cur- 
tain, or screen may be used. Small chairs, twelve to six- 
teen inches high, should be procured, or stools on which 
they can rest their feet if obliged to be seated in regular 
chairs or pews. Class tables should be used, with basket 
for offering, and box for crayons, pencils, and other supplies. 
Both chairs and the folding tables should be rubber-tipped. 

Bright, airy, well-toned surroundings should be arranged, 
the walls in brown or tan and other colors, and fittings to 
match. The brown makes a good background for birthday 
calendars, lesson pictures, and seasonal decorations. There 
should be a screen at the door, so the children will not be 
disturbed by late comers or visitors. The visitors should 
be accommodated on a special settee or chairs out of range 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 99 

of the children's eyes. There should be a cabinet for ma- 
terials and for missionary curios and object lessons. Grow- 
ing plants and nature material are desirable. There should 
be a piano (in preference to an organ), a sandboard, and a 
blackboard. 

(3) Program. — Unless there is only one room for the en- 
tire school, the Primary Department should hold its service 
of worship apart from the rest of the school. There is no 
gain but a positive loss to the little folks and their teachers 
in obliging them to sit or wriggle through exercises that 
can at the best have but little meaning for them. If they 
are obliged to meet with others, the prayers and exercises 
should be short, and the primary children should be given 
a little part in the program. 

It is recognized that at the primary age foundations are 
being laid, through program and teaching, for all of life. 
What is later to appear in character and service must have 
its beginning here. Worship, praise, prayer, giving, service, 
missions, duties to father and mother, duties to others, all 
must have a place. Therefore, the program and lessons 
must include this material: the primary plan book, in ad- 
dition to the primary teachers' textbook. Special programs 
are often suggested in The Church School and in The Ele- 
mentary Teacher and other elementary periodicals. 

There are many excellent special songbooks for the pri- 
mary worker. In addition good songs should be clipped 
and used, and the words should be stenciled on muslin and 
hung on shade rollers. The meaning and the words of 
songs should be made clear to these immature minds; other- 
wise, there will be many strange and ludicrous results. 

It is of utmost importance that the supplemental or drill 
material of special texts and hymns to be memorized should 
be well taught. These are a part of the teaching material 
found in the graded lessons. Care should be taken to ex- 
plain the purpose of giving. Reverence should be culti- 
vated. Birthday recognition, on the Sunday nearest the 
birthday, is advisable. The welcome to the new pupil can 



100 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

be made attractive if the new pupil and the one who has 
brought him in stand side by side upon the platform, the 
introduction made, the welcome song sung, and the depart- 
ment or school pin fastened on the coat of the new member 
by the one who brought him in. This is the right sort of 
atmosphering. 

(4) Week-day activities. — The lesson teaching should 
have practical expression in week-day loving service for 
others, and through some home work on the lesson. The 
latter should be brought in on the Sunday following the 
lesson, and special credit given. The class or department 
should have a special benevolent objective, such as the help 
of a nursery, the support of a child's bed in a hospital, the 
support of an orphan on the home or foreign field, the mak- 
ing of picture scrapbooks for sick children. "Others" 
should be the motto to correct the tendency to selfishness 
at this age. 

4. The Junior Department. (1) Organization. — The 
juniors are children nine to eleven years inclusive. For- 
merly the junior period was considered as including the 
years nine to twelve; but the new plan, recommended by 
several denominations, is to organize the succeeding Inter- 
mediate Department on the plan of the junior high school — 
ages twelve to fourteen. 

Ability to read the Bible easily is the usual test for en- 
trance into the Junior Department. The Bible may be given 
to the pupil by the Primary Department as a gift or reward 
for verse and hymn memorization. Earlier the suggestion 
has been made of a separate room for the juniors. In the 
smallest school there should be at least one class of girls 
and one of boys of this age. In larger departments it is 
well to have the classes, six to eight to the class, grouped 
according to age for nine-, ten-, and eleven-year-olds. Some 
junior assembly rooms provide, by partitions, for three sub- 
divisions of the room for the three age groups, the graded 
lessons being taught to these groups. 

Boys and girls of these years have more or less of the 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 101 

gang or club spirit, and a simple form of class organiza- 
tion worlre well. There may be a class president, secretary, 
and treasurer, each elected for a three- to six-month term. 
Absentees can be visited by these officers. At this age pu- 
pils like to receive credits for church attendance, bringing 
their Bible and home work. 

(2) Equipment. — A good department equipment will in- 
clude maps, blackboards, class tables for handwork, and 
place for songbooks, birthday cards, welcome letters, de- 
partment or school buttons; cabinet, with missionary cu- 
rios, models of the Holy Land and Oriental house, taber- 
nacle, sheepfold, scroll, well, missionary books, stereopti- 
con; and motion-picture outfit for missionary, social-wel- 
fare, and other educational materials, including illustrated 
gospel and national songs, flags of the principal nations, pic- 
tures of national and missionary heroes; and department 
motto. A good junior motto is "Be ye doers of the Word." 

(3) Program. — The law of the junior pupil's life is ac- 
tion, and the program must be characterized by animation 
in speech and song. These are habit-forming years, and 
punctuality and reverence must be insisted on. The super- 
intendent should know what he is to do next, and awkward 
pauses between parts of the program should be avoided. 
Variety in exercises, brevity in prayer, music of a martial 
sort, are needed in this department. It is well to place the 
lesson in the latter part of the program, so that dismissal 
will follow the lesson after the closing prayer and hymn. 

(4) Manual work. — The junior age is one of expression 
through hands, speech, and feet. These boys and girls are 
glad for a chance to use their hands in making maps in 
sand and paper pulp and in fashioning models illustrating 
life in Palestine. They like to decorate narrative Bible 
stories with pictures, pen, and crayon. In Handwork in 
the Sunday School, Littlefield, the method of doing this is. 
shown. A room to which pupils can be taken for this work 
is of great service. For the juniors this expressional work 
should take the form of maps of Palestine in the time of 



102 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Jesus, the journeys of Saint Paul, a missionary map of the 
world with stars for the denominational stations, the taber- 
nacle with models of the altar and the other furniture, 
models of Oriental houses, wells, etc. The educational 
superintendent of the school should direct this work. It 
should compose part of the annual exhibit for parents' 
inspection. 

(5) Correlated and drill work. — The junior period is pre- 
eminently the memory age. The correlated memory work 
indicated in the graded-lesson textbooks should be used. 
In the general session some class may be asked to recite 
the memory hymn for the period, another class the memory 
texts. The books of the Bible, divisions, etc., should be 
made a part of this drill, and previous memory work re- 
viewed. Five to seven minutes might be taken each Sun- 
day with this drill. It should include Bible marking of 
pivotal chapters, passages, and texts, as suggested in Chap- 
ter X. Such hymns as "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," 
"My Faith Looks Up to Thee," and "From Greenland's Icy 
Mountains" should be memorized in this department. Where 
the new group lessons are used, some effective drill work 
may be done with the department as a whole. 

(6) Spiritual growth. — We should look for a definite spirit- 
ual awakening between ten and twelve years. The junior 
superintendent and teacher should watch carefully for an 
interest in God's call to the life at this age and guide to a 
decision. "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth" will be 
the answer of many a boy and girl at this age. With such 
a decision these boys and girls should be given opportunity 
to express this new relationship to Christ in acts of service 
of a very practical nature, such as gathering up magazines 
for hospitals and homes, sending flowers and picture-card 
albums to children in nurseries and orphanages, and acts of 
kindness and helpfulness in the home. Junior boys and 
girls should enter a class for instruction in church member- 
ship. 

(7) Social and recreational life. — This should take the 






DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 103 

form of annual department picnics, hikes, camping for the 
older boys, social games, and other recreations suggested 
in Chapter XV. The Bible games mentioned in that chap- 
ter will be especially interesting to juniors as memory tests. 
There is no time of life when refreshments taste quite as 
good as in the junior period. 

(8) Teachers for juniors. — Young people of the Senior 
and Young People's Departments can be trained to be 
effective teachers of the juniors. They should, however, be 
given special opportunity, before taking classes, to study 
junior characteristics and to adapt themselves to this 
really difficult, alert, and restless age. In several well- 
organized Junior Departments a training class of young 
people for theory, observation, and practice work has been 
conducted within the department. The general subjects 
of the training course should be studied, with special ap- 
plication to the junior period and, later, the books of the 
third-year junior specialization, Sunday School Council 
series. 1 

5. The Intermediate Department. (1) Age and char- 
acteristics. — From twelve to fourteen years are the new 
ages for this department under International standards to 
harmonize with the junior-high-school organization. This 
is the first of the periods of adolescence. The intermediate 
years are a period of marked physical and mental develop- 
ment of emotional stress and, frequently, of spiritual crisis. 
They are years when the boy and girl tend to break with 
the authority of the home and of religion. The gang or 
club spirit is dominant. The emotions swing the young 
people from one extreme to the other. Parents and friends 
fail to understand these boys and girls. Love, patience, and 
sympathy only will win. 

(2) Organization and equipment. — (a) Department or- 
ganization. — This should include a superintendent and, if 



1 These are Child Study: The Junior, Whitley; Christian Conduct for 
Juniors, Baldwin; Junior Teaching Materials and Methods, Albright; 
Junior Department Organization and Administration, Koontz. 



104 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

there is a department room, a musician, a secretary, and 
such other helpers as the size of the department warrants. 
In one school a fine orchestra, made up of the boys and girls, 
has been a factor. The department banner is displayed, and 
the walls are decorated with such pictures as "Washington 
at Prayer at Valley Forge," "Christ and the Doctors," and 
subjects showing hospital and other service. Small class 
tables, around which chairs can be grouped, piano, maps, 
charts, stereopticon outfit, and a department motto will be 
helpful as additional equipment. In this department, as in 
the succeeding Senior and Young People's Departments, the 
young people should be given a place upon certain depart- 
ment committees. 

(fc) Class organization. — Here, as in the succeeding de- 
partments, the organization of the class is important, with 
the usual class officers and social and benevolent commit- 
tees. The certificate of recognition of the organization can 
be framed and hung upon the wall. 

(c) Other organizations. — The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 
and Camp Fire Girls are popular with intermediate pupils. 
The department should be closely linked up with the inter- 
mediate section of the Epworth League, Christian Endeavor, 
Young People's Union, or other denominational young 
people's organizations. Other organizations are also sug- 
gested under Chapter XV. 

(3) Spiritual importance of the age. — In the intermedi- 
ate and senior ages another crisis is reached in the life of 
the pupil. For the school and department superintendents 
the goal should be: "Every pupil an announced Christian 
before sixteen." At about fourteen, the last year of the 
intermediate period, experience shows a great many de- 
cisions are made for Christ and for future Christian serv- 
ice. A great many missionaries date their decisions to go 
to the mission field to this age. Through biography, picture, 
and story, and wise appeal for Christian decision, these 
young people should be challenged. It is a peculiarity of 
these years that such decisions are more easily given ex- 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 105 

pression to in forms of Christian service than in testi- 
mony. 

(4) Recreations. — Care must be taken in mixing boys and 
girls in social and recreational activities during early ado- 
lescence. Separate organization of events for the boys and 
girls is advisable at this period, although, where carefully 
supervised, department picnics and hikes to points of in- 
terest have been successful. These give opportunity for 
class and teacher to come together. 

(5) The intermediate teacher. — There is no age for which 
the teacher will need more wisdom than here. Dr. Schauf- 
fler said wisely, "Teacher, if you would understand that 
restless boy and that giggling girl, remember, remember, re- 
member!" We must think ourselves back to our own boy- 
hood and girlhood, we must read some of the splendid 
books now available for the teen-age teacher, we must be 
sympathetic and understanding, we must be above all else 
a friend and comrade. 

(6) Parents' conferences. — It is highly important that 
home and school cooperate in behalf of intermediate and 
senior pupils. Parents' conferences should be arranged, 
and superintendents, teacher, and parents should sit down 
together socially and talk frankly over the problems and 
opportunities of the age. Frequently parents are having 
their own difficulties in understanding their children and 
will welcome cooperation. It is in these conferences that 
the question of properly informing these young people as to 
sex can be frankly discussed. Best books on this subject 
may be suggested, and many a tragedy avoided. 

(7) Promotions. — The graduating exercises of the in- 
termediate and senior groups will be touched upon in the 
next chapter. 

(8) Department spirit. — -There is no department in which 
the boys and girls will respond more quickly to sugges- 
tions as to interclass and inter department contests than 
here. Enthusiasm will run high. Usually the Interme- 
diate Department will be found at the front in all school 



106 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

contests and campaigns. There is no limit to the desire 
and capacity of these boys and girls for things worth while. 

6. The Senior Department. (1) Age and characteris- 
tics. — The Senior Department now includes the years of 
middle adolescence — fifteen to seventeen inclusive. These 
are the ages of early courtship, of heightening ideals, 
change of voice, independence of judgment, deepening spir- 
itual experience; when young people are active, adven- 
turous, emotional; when criminals are made, and leaders 
for good developed; years of great decisions and rich pos- 
sibilities of service. For parent and teacher they are years 
of solicitude. Here and in the Young People's Department 
the church should begin to receive dividends for the King- 
dom from its previous investment in Sunday-school in- 
struction. Yet these are the years when both church and 
Sunday school, through inadequate vision and plans, have 
lost these young people most largely and unnecessarily. 

There must be full recognition here and in the following 
department of the increasing social, mental, and spiritual 
development, and plans must be laid to capture all these 
avenues of expression if all our pupils are to be held. The 
power of organization must be utilized, and self-government 
in administration must be conceded. Both the employed 
group and those in high school demand special attention. 

(2) Department and class organization. — There should 
be a department room, with opportunity for separation of 
classes in classrooms or by means of curtains or screens. 
In the Senior Department, to promote teamwork and class 
organization, larger classes, preferably not mixed, should 
be the rule. The usual department organization applies 
here including superintendent, assistant superintendent, 
secretary, chorister, and department committees, the lat- 
ter constituted largely of the young people. Indeed, self- 
government should be expressed in the Senior Department 
by the formation of a senior council, composed of one repre- 
sentative from each class, to plan for the social, recrea- 
tional, social-service, and other work of the department. In< 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 107 

some schools the department nominates its officers subject 
to approval by the proper board. 

The equipment should include the department motto, 
pennant, orchestra, and songbooks prepared especially for 
pupils of this age. 

Class organization should be more complete than at the 
intermediate age, including membership, social, and benevo- 
lent committees, at least. Some senior classes have their 
own class paper, edited by a committee. Given an oppor- 
tunity, senior classes will be glad to decorate their rooms 
with pennants, pictures, colors, and fine mottoes. Each 
class should have its own name, motto, yell, and song. Next 
to those of the home — and often stronger than the home — 
are the bonds between teacher and class in the life of 
seniors. 

(3) Employment. — Many of the seniors are already wage 
earners. The employment or social-service committee of 
the school has a unique opportunity of relating these 
young people to the right employment. The work of that 
committee will appear in Chapter XX. 

(4) Recreations. — A large factor in gripping young peo- 
ple of the senior age is adequate attention to the athletic 
and social life. The church should provide for gymnasium, 
tennis, and handball, and the department committee on 
recreation should map out a schedule of games, socials, 
hikes, contests, and tournaments. 

(5) Organizations. — This is the place for the organiza- 
tion of the senior section of the church young people's or- 
ganization, whatever that may be. The young women's 
missionary society, the Queen Esther and Dorcas girls, and 
similar societies should have their source in this depart- 
ment. 

(6) Training for service. — This department, not infre- 
quently, may be depended on to furnish a class for the 
training of teachers and leaders. Seventeen, or even six- 
teen, is the right age to begin the training of young people 
for specialized service. In my own school I have recruited 



108 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

a great many of our teachers from training classes of 
seventeen- and eighteen-year-old young people. Plans of 
training may well include those in preparation for other 
lines of leadership, such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Camp 
Fire Girls, Sunday-school secretaries, members of depart- 
ment committees. Occasionally these young people should 
be given platform and other practice work. 

(7) Spiritual possibilities. — These are years of spirit- 
ual decisions; and, in the most tactful way possible, de- 
cisions should be secured in the case of every senior before 
leaving the department. The probabilities are largely 
against right decision after this age. The examples of 
strong men and women who are Christians, especially those 
who are* leaders in business, athletics, and national life; 
Christ in the greatness of his personality, sacrifice, and 
program of service, should be presented. The teacher's 
example will be especially fruitful. 

7. The Young People's Department. (1) The group 
and its organization.— -The years eighteen to twenty-four 
cover the period of later adolescence. It is the period of 
college life or the entering on business following the high- 
school age. It is the period also of engagements and mar- 
riages. The department and classes are more or less broken 
into by these' occurrences, and by removals for these and 
business reasons, and because of college absences. 

If, however, there has been effective organization in the 
Senior Department, the chances favor the launching of these 
young people into the new department with enthusiasm, an 
enlarged vision of service, and a readiness to square up to 
the bigger challenges to their young manhood and woman- 
hood. If a good interest is maintained through the period 
of the Young People's Department, the probabilities are 
that these same young people, after the inevitable changes 
referred to, will return to their old classes in the school, 
or to new classes of mothers or fathers organized in con- 
nection with the lower departments, or to new adult 
classes. > : . 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 109 

A separate assembly room, with individual classrooms, 
is desirable for this department. The usual department of- 
ficers and committees named in connection with the Senior 
Departments are needed, and the same general equipment 
for the assembly room and for classrooms. It is desirable 
that the social-service committee shall be stressed, with at- 
tention also to employment. There should be an active 
committee on membership and welcome, for much scouting 
is necessary to overcome natural losses and to enlist the 
attendance of young people who may, for various reasons, 
have slipped away from Sunday school. 

(2) Department administration. — With the broader out- 
look upon life which comes at this age there must be a 
corresponding broadening in the program of the depart- 
ment. Self-reliance, individual and class initiative, self- 
determination, should be given opportunity for fullest ex- 
pression. The whole program must be of a kind that will 
appeal to young people, with due regard to dignity and 
character values. The hymnal to be used should be care- 
fully selected by a competent committee of the depart- 
ment. Cheap, unworthy music should be shunned. Special 
departmental programs are issued by the Sunday-school 
boards. Some special musical feature should be intro- 
duced each Sunday. Matters of civic and international in- 
terest from the Christian standpoint should be presented, 
and the broader aspects of missionary work emphasized. 

The officers of the department, with the exception of the 
counselor, should be elected by the members, subject to 
ratification by the official body. The counselor, the adult 
adviser of the department, should be elected by the same 
body as the superintendent of the school. A young people's 
council should be formed, composed of representatives of 
the classes, with the department officers and teachers, to 
plan for the department activities. In one school, under 
such a council, department and interclass socials were 
planned for, the gymnasium conducted, a department paper 
edited, special days featured, and variety given to the de- 



110 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

partment exercises through participation in them by classes. 
In turn these classes were given responsibility for entire 
sessions of the department. A member of the class would 
act as president, another would lead in prayer, another 
give the notices, another sing or play a violin solo; and 
on one Sunday the whole class, one of young men, sang 
some gospel songs in parts. One class gave an ideal mis- 
sionary program, showing up those parts of missionary 
work at home and abroad which would appeal to young 
people. 

(3) Training for service. — The training class for teach- 
ers and other leaders, referred to under "The Senior De- 
partment" and in other chapters, should have a prominent 
place in plans for the Young People's Department. The 
ideal is to make the department a training camp for special- 
ized service. There should be not only teacher-training 
classes but also classes in missions, social service, evan- 
gelism, and general leadership. The textbooks are now 
available to enable a school to broaden its training for 
school, church, community, and world service. 

(4) Missionary and social service activities. — The age 
and earning capacity of the young people should enable 
classes to get definitely behind parts of the church, com- 
munity, and world program. They should be guided in 
this by the missionary and social-service committees of 
the school. With the selection of objects for direct support 
there will come the stimulus of information as to the re- 
sults of their giving. This giving, of course, should not 
take the place of participation in any general missionary 
or other program of the church or denomination. 

(5) Christian decisions. — Ninety per cent of all de- 
cisions for the Christian life are made before the age of 
twenty-five. The years between eighteen and twenty-four 
are years of doubting, the testing of theories in the light 
of fact and experience, years of strong temptation, when 
foundations are tried, years of full commitment to Christ 
and his program in the light of intelligent conviction. 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 111 

While the Christian decisions of these years are fewer they 
are likely to be more permanent. 

(6) Between Sundays. — The week-day activities for both 
seniors and young people are vital in the shaping of char- 
acter. A carefully formulated program of week-day ac- 
tivities for the department is desirable. Young people 
should be encouraged to take active part in community 
and State teen-age Sunday-school organizations and to at- 
tend the training schools and summer conferences provided 
by the denominational boards and such conferences as are 
held at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and Lake Winnepesaukee, 
New Hampshire, by the International Sunday School As- 
sociation. A teen-age union in a Pennsylvania town of 
seven churches reported 95 per cent of all the young people 
in the town in church and Sunday-school services. A bi- 
monthly meeting was held for recreation, study, leadership 
training, and discussion of subjects of common interest; 
wholesome recreation for the community in the line of 
lectures, dramatics, and pageantry was provided; and the 
win-my-chum plan of personal evangelism was used. 

8. The Adult Department. This department will in- 
clude those over twenty-four, as also the parents' classes, 
which may have some members under twenty-four. In 
some schools there is a separate organization for the Par- 
ents' Department, with a superintendent, the aim being to 
bring the parents into close touch with the religious edu- 
cation of their children and to aid and inspire them in the 
home training of their children. Parents' Department work 
we shall more fully consider in Chapter XVI, as the work 
of the department includes nonattending as well as at- 
tending parents. In one school there is a Mothers' De- 
partment, consisting of a group of mothers' classes. These 
are separately supervised and organized into a mothers' 
association with a monthly meeting. 

(1) Organization and program. — The Adult Department 
ordinarily consists of a group of organized adult classes — 
men's, women's, and mixed — with a superintendent and 



112 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

usual officers. Such a department may meet in the church 
or occupy classrooms in the adult assembly room or de- 
tached rooms. 

The classes forming the Adult Department should, if 
possible, be brought together in their own assembly room 
or in the church for a common service of worship, with 
songs and program fashioned to their needs. There should 
be presented each Sunday some topic of interest to adults 
from the church, community, or world standpoint, with an 
occasional brief address by some business, church, or civic 
leader. 

Items of class growth and work that should prove stimu- 
lating to the entire department should be presented by a 
class representative from time to time. 

A welcoming committee should be an active factor in the 
department. The chairmen of the different class commit- 
tees may form a department committee on interclass mat- 
ters. 

(2) Class organization and activities. — Peculiarly in the 
Adult Department in the past the interest has cen- 
tered about the class. The tendency now is to emphasize de- 
partment organization. The principal adult committees 
are executive, membership, devotional, social, and mission- 
ary (or benevolence). The activities include a wide range 
— athletics, employment, civic improvement, hospital and 
institutional visitation, men's community institutes, pro- 
viding substitute teachers, father-and-son and mother-and- 
daughter banquets, the support of a student on a foreign 
field, gospel teams, and cottage prayer meetings. One group 
of men's classes in Pennsylvania arranged a three-day in- 
stitute on better homes, better schools, better Sunday 
schools, better communities. The discussions were led by 
specialists brought to that town from around the State. 

Where class organization is prominent, care must be 
taken to keep the classes in close touch with the school. 
Too often the tendency is to think of the classes as de- 
tached, independent units. 






DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 113 

In addition to the Improved Uniform Lessons numerous 
special elective courses are now available, including special 
lessons for parents. 

(3) Parents' classes. — These are a new and interesting 
feature of the Adult Department. The field is limitless. A 
good point for the beginning of such classes is with the 
fathers and mothers of the Beginners' or Primary Depart- 
ments, for these are often in attendance with their children. 

(4) Community survey. — The adult classes should con- 
duct a community survey to know conditions as to evil 
and good influences and to reach, through such a visitation 
and survey, every man and woman in the community with 
an invitation to the classes and church. Members of the 
department should keep in touch with the courts, if in a 
city, and act as Big Brothers and Big Sisters to first of- 
fenders. The classes of the church should federate with 
similar classes in other churches to act together on mat- 
ters requiring the expression of Christian conscience in 
civic and moral affairs. 

9. The Home Department. (1) Organization. — This is 
the home-extension department of the Sunday school. As 
a matter of effective organization it should expand its work 
to include the visitation of all the homes of the school with 
the purpose of definitely attaching every parent to the 
Home Department, a fathers' or mothers' class, or a parents' 
association. 

The department is an outreach of the Sunday school into 
the community, providing extension courses of Bible study 
for those who cannot attend the Bible-study classes in the 
school, including in its ministry the infirm, the old, the 
young mothers, nurses, physicians, Sunday clerks, soldiers, 
policemen, firemen, railway employees, and commercial 
travelers. This department builds membership into the 
church and Sunday school and often furnishes regular and 
substitute teachers. 

The officers are the superintendent, secretary, treasurer, 
and visitors. The visitor is supposed to visit two or more 



114 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

of the members, secure the offering and record of the quar- 
ter's Sunday-school lesson reading and study at home, and 
to pray at times with the one visited. The secretary should 
remember the birthdays of the members. Equipment should 
include a record book, Home Department quarterlies, ap- 
plication cards, and quarterly report cards for lesson study. 

(2) Family worship. — The Home Department has proved 
an excellent means for the introduction of family worship 
into the home. If, in addition to reading aloud in the 
presence of the family, the daily home reading as indi- 
cated in the quarterly, the Lord's prayer is offered, a fine 
beginning has been made for family worship. Family- 
worship cards are now a regular part of the equipment of 
the Home Department. 

(3) Special Home Department -features. — (a) Home De- 
partment social. — This quarterly or annual affair can be 
made very attractive by the emphasis of the department 
colors, blue and white; the grouping of members in visitors' 
circles, a social program and brief talks by pastor and 
superintendent. Sometimes these socials are held with ad- 
vantage at homes of visitors or members. 

(b) Library privileges. — The school should promote the 
circulation, through the visitors, of a special Home Depart- 
ment library consisting of best fiction and books for par- 
ents and the home. 

(c) Home Department Day. — This should be observed 
annually through a sermon by the pastor and a special pro- 
gram in the Sunday school. Reserved seats should be kept 
for members, and a flower pinned on each. Mother's Day 
is another occasion when the Home Department can be 
emphasized. The department should be invited to all the 
special days of the school. 

(d) Social plans used by a number of successful Home 
Departments are described in Chapter XVI. 

10. The Officer- and Teacher-Training Department. 
(1) Organization. — If there is but one such class in a 
school, a superintendent is not necessary. In that case the 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 115 

educational superintendent may supervise the work. Who- 
ever has the work in charge should (a) correspond with 
the Teacher Training Department of the Sunday-school 
board and procure the leaflet literature relating to the ad- 
ministration of training; (&) ascertain if there is a com- 
munity training school in his locality, to which workers 
may go for training; (c) in these ways learn about the 
standard training courses and specialization textbooks; (d) 
procure from the public library, without cost, for a limited 
time, the specialization books required or purchase these 
from the school funds; (e) attend the institute on teacher 
or officer training at the next county or State convention 
or at a summer school. 

(2) Training of present workers. — The responsible leader, 
whether superintendent of the Teacher-Training Depart- 
ment or the educational superintendent, should help train 
officers and teachers who have not had special training in 
one of these ways: (a) Plan for a worker's conference 
of all officers and teachers. (&) Place in the teachers' hands 
for reading books relating to their work, (c) If this is not 
possible, organize a week-night training class of those who 
can be enlisted. A chapter of some good book on teaching 
may be read weekly in a reading class and discussed in its 
application to the current lessons. 

(3) Registration and recognition. — The training class 
should be registered with the denominational headquarters, 
which carries with it registration with the State and Inter- 
national Association; and from these offices should come the 
necessary examinations, as well as certificates of recog- 
nition, with the seals for specialization work. These cer- 
tificates will provide for credits at each step of the course 
and should be publicly presented by the pastor in a school 
or church service. Much should be made of this training- 
class graduation service. The class should be known as the 
class of (name of year). It should have a slogan, a Scrip- 
ture motto (such as 2 Tim. 2. 15), a watchword ("Serve"), 
and a class song or hymn; and these should be recited in 



116 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

the graduation in June, preferably on a Sunday or week- 
evening. Some prominent leader should deliver the address, 
essays on the class work should be read, a class prophecy 
should be made. Graduate work should be planned for, and 
an alumni association formed of all graduates. 

(4) Elective and practice work. — Not all young people 
will desire to teach; some will prefer executive work, such 
as assistant superintendent, departmental superintendent, 
secretary, treasurer, librarian, chorister, recreational leader, 
or important committee work. After studying the general 
units of the training courses members of the class may elect 
their special work and prepare for it through specialization 
study. 

Opportunity should be given all class members for ob- 
servation and practice work and report during or at the 
completion of the course. In this way faults can be cor- 
rected and confidence gained. 

Bibliography 

How to Conduct a Cradle Roll, Curtiss. 
The Beginners' Worker and Work, Beard. 
Primary Methods in the Church School, Munkres. 
The Junior Worker and Work, Baldwin. 
Workers With Youth, Harris. 
The Sunday School and the Teens, Alexander. 
Handbook for Workers With Young People, Thompson. 
The Adult Worker and Work, Barclay. 
Leaders of Girls, Espey. 
Leaders of Young People, Smith. 

Home Classes and Home Department of the Sunday 
School, Hazard. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. Department management as related to the graded les- 
sons. 

2. Department separation and school unity. 



DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT 117 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. Name the inclusive ages of the different school depart- 
ments. 

2. In what ways may the Cradle Roll be a valuable fac- 
tor in school and church upbuilding? 

3. Are Bible classes for fathers and mothers of the be- 
ginners practicable? 

4. Give the most important particulars concerning Pri- 
mary Department organization. 

5. At what age should memory work be most empha- 
sized? 

6. What should be the supreme objective of the Inter- 
mediate and Senior Departments? 

7. What are four points for work with the Senior Depart- 
ment? 

8. What is the special opportunity in the Young People's 
Department? 

9. What is the secret of the success of the adult class? 

10. What organization is necessary for the Home Depart- 
ment? 

11. What are the best methods for promoting teacher 
training? 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERINTENDENT 

In the chapters preceding we have considered the work 
of the superintendents of the various departments and their 
training for service. The graded plan makes necessary the 
appointment of someone who shall assign pupils, coordinate 
the educational work of the departments, and arrange for 
promotion and promotion exercises and for the supplemental 
and manual work of the pupils. Such a superintendent 
may combine this work with some other office ; but the work 
itself should be definitely committed to someone well quali- 
fied for this important service — a service that should bring 
up the educational efficiency of the school. 

We shall consider the various parts of the work of the 
educational superintendent. 

1. Grading the pupils. We have already stated that 
in the smallest school there should be at least one class 
for each distinct age group — that is, for each department 
group; for instance, a class of those nine to eleven for the 
Junior Department, one of twelve to fourteen for the Inter- 
mediate Department. The assignment of pupils, even in a 
small school, will therefore follow the general departmental 
lines. 

In the larger school the pupils will be divided into de- 
partments and classes and preferably, in the Junior and 
Intermediate Departments, into classes of boys and girls 
for each year of the department. In some communities the 
assignment to classes is made on the basis of the grade of 
the pupil in the public school. This should surely be taken 
into account. 

In some schools the young people, after passing fourteen, 
are classified into high-school and business classes. The 

118 



THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERINTENDENT 119 

natural association of pupils outside of the school is, for 
the later teens, much to be preferred as a basis of assign- 
ment to any arbitrary grading plan. 

2. The curriculum. The graded plan makes inevitable 
the introduction of progressive courses of study. These are 
furnished in the International Closely Graded Lessons. The 
group lessons are likely to come into use, in the small 
school, where the closely graded lessons are not used. The 
uniform lesson is likely slowly to give way to either the 
group lessons or closely graded lessons. Where the uniform 
lessons are in use, the beginners* and primary closely 
graded lessons by all means should be used for the younger 
children. 

The educational superintendent will have need of pa- 
tience in introducing the graded lessons in certain schools 
wedded to the old plan. It is usually best to begin the pro- 
cess with the beginners' and primary classes and work up. 

This superintendent should make a careful study of all 
available courses and material for use in the Young Peo- 
ple's and Adult Departments, for which elective studies are 
provided, and should suggest to the teachers the books or 
courses most serviceable on the lines suggested in the young 
people's and adult sections of the previous chapter. 

The church committee on religious instruction will be 
counseled with in connection with the planning of the gen- 
eral school curriculum. 

3. Standards. The accepted denominational standards 
for the school, departments, organized classes, and officer 
and teacher training should be faithfully promoted, and 
recognition for attainment secured and announced by the 
educational superintendent. 

4. The library. As a member of the library committee 
the educational superintendent's counsel should be valuable 
in the selection, grading, and listing of the books, especially 
those designed for officers and teachers, the training class, 
and missions. His help should be enlisted in promoting the 
circulation of such books. 



120 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

5. Correlated or supplemental -work. By this is 
meant progressive drill in the various departments to fix 
in the memory of the pupils hymns, Bible facts, and im- 
portant texts and passages. Drill in Bible texts, hymns, 
etc., is largely provided for in the International Graded 
Lessons and is given as a part of these lessons. Where 
the uniform lesson is used, suitable material may be found 
in supplemental leaflets, which can be obtained of the de- 
nominational boards. Most pupils enjoy such drill work 
very much, especially in the junior years. It is absolutely 
essential to good work. There should be some examination 
upon it at the end of the quarter or of the school year, and 
some recognition for it should be given in the form of a 
seal attached to the promotion certificate. 

6. Manual work. Handwork is the expression of the 
lesson and Bible truth through map making, model forming, 
compilation of scrap- and notebooks, and decorative and 
illustrative work, so that the lessons and the Bible become 
real to the pupil. In bringing handwork into the Sunday 
school we are simply keeping in step with — or, rather, a step 
behind — the day school, and we are utilizing a method al- 
ready familiar to many of our pupils. Pupils attending 
country Sunday schools may not have the advantage in this 
respect possessed by the city child; but the Sunday-school 
teacher can easily win a new interest in the lesson by adopt- 
ing some of the plans suggested, for it does not require a 
trained teacher to do this work. 

It is first necessary for the educational superintendent 
to get well acquainted with the subject by reading up on it, 
notably such books as Handwork in the Sunday School, by 
Milton S. Littlefield (The Abingdon Press) ; Handwork in 
Religious Education, by Addie Grace Wardle; and Things 
to Make, by J. Gertrude Hutton. By so doing he cannot help 
but realize its large value in interesting and training the 
pupils. 

Handwork takes into account the law that impressions 
are not made definite except by expression. It helps the 






THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERINTENDENT 121 

pupils. They like it. It provides a channel for expression 
through their finger tips and gives them an added respect 
for the Sunday school as an educational institution. The 
Bible is made a real book as its characters, events, and 
lands are put in concrete form. Handwork helps the teacher 
by giving a new educational channel for the lesson truths, 
wins the interested cooperation of the pupil, and gives a 
new point of contact with the pupil's life, Sunday and week- 
day. It projects the lesson into the week and secures a 
larger home interest than any other method. It helps to 
larger attendance and better order because of a more in- 
telligent interest. It leads to larger spiritual results, for 
knowledge must precede choice if the matter is to be ef- 
fective. 

(1) Important particulars. — To answer general que- 
ries we may say: (a) The material selected for map work, 
modeling, and other handwork may also be used to illus- 
trate the current lessons. (&) The time spent upon such 
work as map making in the school is not lost, for it lays 
the foundation for many subsequent lessons in locating 
places, persons, and events. Such work in geography may 
illustrate current lessons and is a definite part of good teach- 
ing, (c) The exhibit of handwork affords also a fine op- 
portunity for a parents' evening, (d) Handwork does not 
require an expert. One teacher informed as to the plan 
and with some illustrative material such as is suggested 
in the second paragraph can be used to meet and train 
other teachers in all the required work, (e) Begin with 
one class. The new interest in that class will cause atten- 
tion and the adoption of the work by others. In one large 
school this was the method: The class met once on a week- 
night at the home of the supervising teacher with blank 
books and the Sunday-school lesson pictures. Thereafter 
all that was required was the supply of the pictures and 
occasional suggestions. (/) The main work is accom- 
plished at home, the teacher or supervisor placing on Sun- 
day a seal on the accepted work, (g) The expense of the 



122 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

work can be made moderate. The material can be gradually 
acquired, (h) It should be emphasized that handwork, to 
be of service, must be kept tributary to the lesson and must 
issue in spiritual results and more intelligent service. And 
this is the usual outcome of its use. 

(2) The outfit required. — A manual room, if possible, 
should be fitted out with sand table, blackboard, chairs, 
topographical and relief maps of Palestine, the Sinaitic pen- 
insula, and Jerusalem; a cabinet for supplies, stereograph, 
and Palestinian pictures, models of an Oriental house, 
lamp, tabernacle, water bottles, and Eastern garments. To 
this room classes may be taken for instruction and exami- 
nation. Samples of their work will decorate the walls and 
tables. Other material required will include blank books, 
ruled notebooks, and letter sheets; crayons, modeling clay, 
pulp, putty, and plasticine, inks (all colors), book-covering 
paper in gray and brown; Bible and lesson pictures for 
illustrative purposes, scissors, drawing paper, small outline 
maps; a Bible dictionary showing models; a Bible geog- 
raphy for maps; paste and brushes. A valuable list of 
best supplies and where obtainable can be found in the leaf- 
let on the subject issued by the Board of Sunday Schools. 

(3) Notebook or written icork. — In the Primary Depart- 
ment and lower junior grades handwork will take the form 
of scrapbook work, done sometimes in a part of the school 
session but usually at home. In the upper junior and early 
intermediate grades this notebook work will expand to in- 
clude the drawing in crayon or ink of lesson illustrations, 
the fuller expression of the lesson story in writing, the use 
of the outline maps colored and with lesson points located, 
and the artistic decorating with crayon of covers for the 
completed books and with choice pictures and illuminated 
borders and initial letters. The lesson notebook may be- 
come a class book, each pupil weekly, in turn, contributing 
the lesson story and illustrations. Historical notebook work 
has a special appeal to the upper junior and the interme- 
diate grades. This includes narrative work, the study of the 






THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERINTENDENT 123 

Bible by periods, and the analyzing and summarizing of 
events in connection with maps. There is a series of 
outline maps published for this purpose. Any outstanding 
Bible character or reign or distinct historical period can 
be treated in this way, the facts being correctly stated or 
outlined, and the maps marked accordingly. 

(4) Modeling work. — As related to the making of relief 
maps this will require clay, putty, pulp, or plasticine. A 
cheap method of providing material is to take newspapers, 
torn in small pieces not more than one inch square, pour 
boiling water over them, let stand for four or five hours, 
work over with the jagged end of a board until the fiber 
is smooth, and then drain off the water. In making relief 
maps use board trays 7^x10 inches, forming the map over 
an outline and showing villages, mountains, lakes, and 
plains. When dry remove the map and glue it upon card- 
board. The rivers and cities may be shown in red ink. 
This is fascinating work for juniors. Sand-map modeling 
is another method of interest. Oriental water pots, lamps, 
wells, and tombs are other model forms for juniors. Such 
models may be obtained from Sunday-school supply houses. 
In the intermediate grades higher forms of work should be 
tried, such as an Eastern sling, sword, sandals, sheepfold, 
Oriental house, tent, Oriental dress, and a turban. A plan 
suggested for seniors is to make working drawings of Solo- 
mon's Temple, the tabernacle, and Bible implements. 

(5) Handwork and the graded lessons. — With the graded 
lessons it is planned that the handwork, such as historical 
geography and notebook work, shall be constantly used 
with the lessons. There may be needed an occasional ses- 
sion for geography work that shall be broadly introductory; 
or the preparation of an essay, such as "The Roman Empire 
as a Preparation for Christ's Coming," for older classes; 
or some special portfolio work or modeling work of maps 
or objects. With the intermediate graded lessons, used by 
high-school students who are busy with their school tasks, 
the handwork is reduced to a minimum. It covers two 



124 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

things: (a) to construct an event map giving a summary of 
events to form the basis of class discussion, following a 
model in the teacher's book, and (6) to construct a char- 
acter analysis following a suggested outline. 

(6) Handwork exhibit. — The material in all grades should 
be gathered by the educational superintendent and ar- 
ranged in an interesting annual exhibit. Parents and 
friends should be invited, and papers relating to the sub- 
jects produced should be read by the pupils. All this may 
form a part of the promotion or graduation service. The 
manual room or school museum should receive the best of 
the work for permanent exhibition. 

Such an exhibit might be a part of a general annual 
school exhibit, to include school posters, Boy Scout, Girl 
Scout, Camp Fire Girls outfits, class and departmental pen- 
nants and publicity material, together with facts, attrac- 
tively charted, regarding the school's organization, objec- 
tives, and growth. 

7. Promotions. (1) Necessity. — All well-ordered schools, 
small or large, plan for an annual Promotion Day. Pupils 
are promoted, with appropriate exercises, from department 
to department, or from class to class in small schools, and 
in the large schools from grade to grade within the depart- 
ment. This annual Promotion Day, as in the public school, 
becomes an objective toward which pupils and teachers 
work. 

(2) Basis. — In some schools pupils are promoted on the 
basis of merit, following an examination on the year's work. 
The usual plan, however, is for all pupils to be advanced 
at the end of the school year, a certificate being given to 
all, but with the addition of an honor seal for those who 
have done meritorious work. This special work may con- 
sist of some form of manual or supplemental work, the plan 
for such work and recognition having been explained in 
each department well in advance. 

(3) Promotion certificates. — All denominational and Sun- 
day-school supply houses furnish these. They are usually 



THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERINTENDENT 125 

prepared for promotion from department to department. 
Some recognize the grade promotions as well. Promotion 
certificates should be signed by the school and department 
officers and should be tied in the International divisional 
colors or in the school colors where such have been adopted. 

(4) Time. — The last Sunday in September and the first 
Sunday in October are the days usually favored for Pro- 
motion Day, although some schools use Children's Day. 
The later date has the advantage of holding the class to- 
gether over the summer period for a good fall start. 

(5) Exercises. — These should be dignified, as in the pub- 
lic school, and should emphasize the work accomplished 
during the year. Parents and friends may be invited 
through formal printed invitations that list the names of 
the graduates. Flowers, banners, flags, and department 
decorations may be used, and a graduation arch constructed 
appropriately trimmed, through which pupils may march 
to receive their promotion certificates. An evening may 
well be given to this service. 

In some schools a morning church service is used, the 
classes or departments, in the presence of the congrega- 
tion, responding with the special drill work on the Bible 
books and divisions, Bible characters, and the recitation 
of memory hymns, Psalms, verses, and special passages. 
On such occasions Bibles are frequently given the Primary 
children. 

In other schools the public-school plan is followed, with 
a class poem and song, essays on Bible subjects or char- 
acters, an address by pastor or superintendent, a valedic- 
tory, a welcome by a representative of the new class or 
department, the class history, a class roll call, and the 
presentation of certificates, the class standing. The small 
Sunday school can easily adopt some of these plans. 

Where there are recitations of memory hymns and Scrip- 
ture passages, the selections should be taken from the 
graded lessons or the supplemental work of the department. 

In the First Congregational Sunday School of Los Angeles 



126 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

the intermediates, on their graduation night, presented a 
series of Bihle tableaux, including prominent events in the 
life of Ruth, David, and Abraham. 

In another school a committee was appointed in the 
Senior Department to prepare a special social program to 
welcome the graduates from the Intermediate Department 
into the new department. This took the form of a stunt 
night, the seniors furnishing the program. When the in- 
termediates came into the new department, the seniors 
stood in token of welcome, and representatives of the 
classes expressed from the platform their welcome to the 
newcomers. 

8. Training for leadership. The educational superin- 
tendent will have special interest in the training of the 
school leadership, present and prospective, in order that the 
highest point of efficiency may be realized by the school. 
Such training, through classes, institutes, libraries, and 
conventions, has been outlined in other chapters. 

9. Providing substitutes. The educational superinten- 
dent, in cooperation with the department superintendents, 
must work out a plan for the provision of substitutes. See 
Chapter XII. 

Bibliography 

The Educational Task of the Local Church, Bower. 
Handwork in the Sunday School, Littlefield. 
The Training of Sunday School Teachers and Officers, 
McElfresh. 
Handwork in Religious Education, Wardle. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. Handwork in the public schools. 

2. Standards of the denominations for various depart- 
ment. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What is the need of an educational superintendent? 



THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERINTENDENT 127 

2. Who should grade the pupil? 

3. How can graded lessons be introduced in the school? 

4. How can school standards be promoted? 

5. How can supplemental work be introduced? 

6. What are the advantages of handwork in the school? 

7. The use of handwork with the graded lessons. 

8. What interesting features may be introduced in pro- 
motions? 



CHAPTER IX 
PROGRAM AND SESSION 

1. Tlie program. The prevailing ideal to-day, wherever 
the building can be readjusted, and in practically all new 
Sunday-school construction, is toward a complete separation 
of departments, the entire time of the session being given 
to each department to adapt the exercises to the age and 
interests of the pupil. In many of our smaller schools this 
plan is impracticable, owing to lack of facilities. Some com- 
bine several departments for opening or closing worship, 
or both. 

The attempt is not made here to outline a separate pro- 
gram for each department. The principles of program mak- 
ing as given here are applicable to all departments and may 
be used in connection with the suggestions as to department 
needs in Chapter VII. 

(1) Program making. — A superintendent should come to 
the session with the last item set out on paper, the program 
thought over, prayed over, and almost dreamed over. Not 
that a program should be so ironclad that a change cannot 
be made in it. Changes will frequently be necessary, and 
often suddenly. But there should be a backbone to the pro- 
gram, and a purpose singing its way clear through to the 
last moment; and the song does not come unless the con- 
stituent notes have been worked over at home into har- 
mony. A superintendent should give to his program mak- 
ing as much time as he expects his teachers to give for 
effective lesson preparation. 

(2) Purpose of the program. — (a) To develop and climax 
the lesson truth. — Songs, prayer, Scripture, review, all 
must conserve this. This is the golden thread giving unity 
to the service, the motif of the music appearing again and 

128 



# 

PROGRAM AND SESSION 129 

again, haunting the spirit after the day is over, and issu- 
ing in conduct and service in the pupil's everyday life. It 
is no easy or light matter to select the material, to form the 
prayer, to mold the session, so that this result shall be 
produced. It is controlling and directing the various 
streams into one channel for a "power stroke" rather than 
allowing these streams to spread out in planless waste. 

When a superintendent is directing the session where 
the graded lessons are used, and the grades are meeting in 
one room for opening or closing worship, the service may 
be constructed about a worship theme in which all may 
take part, and the departments and grades may be called 
upon for recitation of grade texts or for a song or some 
form of the supplemental work which they are pursuing. 

(&) To secure cooperation. — This will require that the 
pupils and teachers be given some part in the program, 
that the exercises have brightness, variety, reverence, dig- 
nity, swing; that an atmosphere of interest be generated. 

(3) Program divisions. — These are four: (a) Worship. — 
This includes the opening service of song, response, Scrip- 
ture reading, recitation of Scripture portions, and prayer. 
Cheer, reverence, and vigor should characterize this. 

(b) Business. — This includes essential announcements 
and statements of interest to all. Brevity, brightness, and 
unusualness are needed here. Many schools place this item 
after the lesson. It has always seemed to the writer that 
all matters of business should be disposed of before the 
lesson session. 

(c) Instruction. — This includes lesson study and sup- 
plemental and drill work. 

(d) Impression or inspiration. — This embraces the song 
following the lesson, show of Bibles, prayer, closing song, 
closing Scripture verses, benediction, and silent prayer with 
bowed heads while the instrument or orchestra plays softly 
some prayer-song. In the graded school there need be no 
reassembling after the lesson period. 

This general order should be adhered to as including 



130 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

fundamentals of the service. There is opportunity for large 
variety within these general divisions of the program. 

(4) Cardinal -features of the program. — (a) Prayer. — 
Not always by the superintendent. The pastor, assistant 
superintendent, or a teacher may be asked to pray, but 
should be notified a week in advance, that careful thought 
may be given the prayer. It is a beautiful sight to see a 
school kneel during prayer. This is the custom in some 
schools, particularly in Canada. In that case care should 
be taken that the floors are clean. Some schools pray stand- 
ing. Reverence in prayer comes largely through the teach- 
er's example. The strength rather than the length of the 
prayer counts for most in the Sunday school. The one 
praying should keep in mind brevity, directness, natural- 
ness, the avoidance of "holy tones," and the presentation of 
specific needs. The sick pupil or teacher, the sorrow-touched 
home, life crises, the new pupils, the departing workers, 
the missionary and mission work, should be included 
in the petition. The prayer should be heard by all, and 
petitions for the same things expressed differently on dif- 
ferent Sundays. There should be brief silent prayer or 
vocal prayer, possibly chanted, at opening and close. The 
Episcopal Prayer of General Thanksgiving may be repeated 
by all as a part of the opening service. The Gloria or Lord's 
Prayer chanted, following the general prayer at the close of 
the opening service of worship, will be found effective. Oc- 
casionally have several brief prayers at regular or special 
times by officers or teachers who can pray briefly and to the 
point. Prayer verses may be distributed to half a dozen, 
and the petitions read, followed by the Lord's Prayer sung 
or repeated. A hymn that is a prayer (such as "Jesus, 
Lover of My Soul" and "I Need Thee Every Hour") may 
be sung occasionally while all heads are bowed. Sometimes 
pupils can be encouraged to offer prayer if the superinten- 
dent hands them slips with suggestions of Scripture prayer 
verses or brief forms of prayer and then calls upon them 
to respond at an appropriate place in the program, possi- 






PROGRAM AND SESSION 131 

bly instead of the usual prayer. Scripture verses can be 
distributed to pupils for use in the same way instead of 
the usual Scripture responses. The Superintendent's Book 
of Prayers, Pell, has suggestive prayers for each Sunday 
and for special occasion?. 

(&) Announcements and reports. — To give these well re- 
quires an advertising instinct, a clear voice, and such 
familiarity with them that the outstanding facts can be 
stated, not read. There may be an officer or teacher who 
can do this work better than the superintendent. If so, use 
him or her for this. Sometimes have rapid-fire notices from 
half a dozen who are interested in giving them. Long no- 
tices should be posted on the bulletin board, and brief 
reference made to them from the desk. Sometimes have 
pupils repeat an important notice. Put announcements oc- 
casionally in the form of questions. Notices for a very few 
should not claim the attention of all. Variety may be cul- 
tivated by such items as the pastor's morning text, names 
of honor pupils, introduction of new teachers and pupils, 
Bible-bringing improvement, prompt attendance, school 
growth, and a campaign for new members. The teachers' 
roll should not be called in the session. Reports of at- 
tendance, Bibles, and offering should be posted upon a 
blackboard or attendance board, and not read by the sec- 
retary unless there is something of particular interest to 
say. 

(c) Lesson reading. — Encourage reading the lesson from 
the Bible. There are many methods to give vitality and 
interest to the lesson reading. This is the more necessary 
as many pupils come to the session with absolutely no 
knowledge of the lesson or its location. Instead of the 
alternate-verse method usual with many schools occasion- 
ally have the entire lesson read through by a class or by 
a pupil or teacher with good reading ability or by all the 
boys or the girls or the teachers; or the superintendent 
might alternate with the pastor or with sections or depart- 
ments; or the superintendent, teachers, girls, and boys 



132 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

might read the verses in turn. Good effects have come 
from the plan of all reading the first verse aloud, the second 
verse in silence, the third verse aloud, etc., to the close. In 
smaller schools a pupil or a class or a teacher might be 
called on suddenly to read the next verse. Or the leader 
might read a part of the verse to a natural break or be- 
fore an important word, then pause, and the school take it 
up; or the superintendent might read the question in the 
verse, the school reading the answer. The value of the 
change of method is that expectancy is created, and the les- 
son more deeply impressed. 

(d) Music, the review, blackboard work, object teach- 
ing, the Bible drill, supplemental work, important parts 
of the superintendent's platform and program work, are 
treated elsewhere in this book, owing to the limits of this 
chapter. 

(5) Printed programs. — There are many excellent open- 
ing services which a school may use which will help in 
varying the exercises, emphasizing themes and special 
days, notably those in The Methodist Sunday School 
Hymnal, Hymnal for American Youth (Century Company), 
Hymns of Worship and Service (Century Company), Wor r 
ship and Song (Pilgrim Press), and Gloria (Barnes). 

A good plan is for each school to make its own program, 
prepared to fit its local needs and arranged so that those 
for whom it is prepared will have a designated part in it. 
Start with one program, a general one, or build about a 
theme, and have it printed upon stiff cardboard with 
rounded corners. Call it Order of Service Number 1 and 
use for a quarter. A second service may be printed upon 
the reverse side, if desired, giving two for use. Enough 
should be printed for each pupil and for a reserve supply, 
as these services are likely to be in use for years. Add 
other services year by year until a good variety has been 
provided. From time to time make a change of program. 
These services should include several good hymns, and 
the theme arranged sometimes with subdivisions developed 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 133 

by careful Scripture selections. Such themes as "The Law 
of God," "Beatitudes of the Kingdom," "Christian Warfare," 
"Christian Brotherhood," and "Missions" may be treated. 
Or some hymn like Matheson's "O Love That Wilt Not Let 
Me Go" may be used with Scripture setting. "The Life of 
the Master in Song" would make a fine service. 

(6) A program committee. — Some schools have such a 
committee to plan the first ten or fifteen minutes of the 
program or to arrange for special features for other parts 
of the program or for special days. Such committees may 
call upon classes to be responsible for the prayer for cer- 
tain Sundays, the chairman of the program committee con- 
ducting this opening service. While such a committee 
may be of service to a superintendent as a cooperating com- 
mittee to ascertain and enlist special talent, the program, 
in its forming and conduct, should be kept in the hands 
of the superintendent. Entertainment as such should be 
excluded from the plan of program making. The interest 
should be developed around the lesson theme. This is 
peculiarly the superintendent's responsibility, and the ordi- 
nary program committee or class cannot be trusted, with- 
out careful guidance, to meet this need. 

(7) Special program features. — (a) School speakers. — 
He is a wise superintendent who knows when not to invite 
certain visitors to address the school. He is a protector 
to his school as well as leader. To "children" your grown- 
up young people is to drive them from the school. There 
are speakers whose message will not subtract from the 
lesson impression, and whose standing and personality will 
make them welcome. Men worth having will always regard 
the time limit of the program, will bear in mind the theme 
of the day, and will stop while you are wishing for more. 

(&) Patriotism in the program. — When the lesson teaches, 
it, and on certain special days, patriotism has a distinct 
place in the Sunday school. Love of country and service 
to that country in every line that shall make for its up- 
lift should be a part of genuine religion. The superinten- 



134 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

dent should pray for his country, and its flag and the Chris- 
tian flag should frequently be seen together in the school 
decorations. Frequently an interesting service, in the 
Junior Department especially, is for the Christian and the 
national flags to be brought to the platform by two boys, the 
department standing. The boy holding the national stand- 
ard repeats with the department the pledge of allegiance 
used in the public schools. Then, pointing to the Chris- 
tian flag, all say, "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the 
Saviour for whose kingdom it stands, one brotherhood unit- 
ing all mankind in service and love." 

(c) Special days. — Programs for "Special Days" will be 
considered in Chapter XXI. Such days give variety to the 
school program. Care should be taken that such programs 
do not crowd out the lesson of the day. 

(d) Occasional items. — Provide occasionally for class of- 
ficers in turn to present some live items of interest or 
progress about the class work. The superintendent should 
know how to seize some weekly newspaper event and apply 
it to the lesson or session at opening, during the notices, in 
the lesson review, or at the close. Once a quarter provide 
for an open parliament for questions, suggestions as to 
school improvement, and complaints. Invite capable pupils 
to speak at that time in three-minute addresses on items 
of school or general interest. They may speak in response 
to specific questions: How can we improve the music? 
How increase our membership? How increase interest on 
social lines? How relate our school to the community life? 
Occasionally install class officers before the department or 
school. Invite a live class of young men and young women 
to take over the program for an entire session. 

A suggestive word in the department opening service 
may sometimes be helpful in tying the title of the lesson or 
its central thought to the theme of the service of worship 
or to some hymn used, but such words must be few and 
only occasional. A blackboard suggestive thought or ques- 
tion may help to build up to the lesson thought. Just be- 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 135 

fore dismissal a suggestive question relating to the lesson 
of the following Sunday may serve to stimulate the week's 
thinking in preparation for that service. 

(8) Division of time. — If one hour is the length of the 
session, a fair division of time is to allow for the devotional 
exercises, Bible or supplemental drill, and lesson reading 
fifteen minutes, lesson study thirty-five minutes, closing 
service ten minutes. The time should be longer. Some 
schools are able to give an hour and a quarter to an hour 
and a half. The time is surely coming when the sessions 
of the school will be held generally in the afternoon, which 
affords adequate time, or in the morning, the church com- 
bining with the Sunday school in making the entire morn- 
ing period the Bible-study service of the church. This will 
solve more than one problem and is warranted by the mag- 
nitude of the Sunday-school opportunity, and by the edu- 
cational work to be accomplished. 

(9) Program outline. — This is purely suggestive, with 
this to be said — that its features have been all practically 
worked: 

(a) Orchestra or other musical prelude. — To be con- 
cluded at the moment set for opening; then doors to be 
closed, and not opened until the singing of a hymn or the 
completion of the opening service; all talking and mov- 
ing about to cease. 

(&) Silent prayer. — This may be followed by sentences 
chanted softly. 

(c) Scripture and hymns in order of service of the day 
or selected Scripture recited or read. The first, eighth, 
twenty-third, and twenty-fourth Psalms and the Beatitudes 
are frequently used. Use hymns expressing the lesson 
theme. 

(d) Prayer, followed by the Lord's Prayer chanted by 
school, or the Gloria, or the Episcopal Prayer of Thanks- 
giving. 

(e) Hymn. 

if) Recitation of school motto *and aim, memory texts, 
Bible drill, or supplemental work. 
(g) Announcements, 
(h) Lesson reading. 



136 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

(i) Lesson study. — The offering and class markings 
should be accomplished in the first few moments, and the 
envelope and book placed at a point convenient to the sec- 
retary, who should collect them without disturbing the 
classes. When the school time permits it, the marking 
of offering, class supplemental work, and incidental class 
business may be given five minutes following "d" or "e," 
especially when the teacher's supplemental lesson comes at 
that point. This would leave the lesson session undisturbed 
for lesson study or discussion. 

(/) Five-minute warning signal. 

(k) Hymn following brief orchestral or musical prelude 
or processional to bring classes into room. 

(I) Lesson review. 

(m) Special features. 

(n) Closing sentences. 

(o) Closing prayer song. 

(p) Benediction. 

(a) Orchestra or instrumental prayer song played softly, 
the school remaining with bowed heads until its con- 
clusion. 

Some schools find it an advantage to break away from 
any general form to create the element of constant change 
and surprise, yet recognizing the cardinal features of the 
program. The limitation of time makes program compres- 
sion necessary. Sometimes the best that can be done for 
the opening is silent prayer, recitation of Scripture by in- 
dividuals or classes, a prayer and a hymn. One school re- 
verses the exercises in order to help prompt attendance. 
The organist plays for five minutes before the school opens. 
Then there are Scripture verses, prayer, and the lesson 
study without reading. After the lesson twenty minutes 
are given to responses, songs, and special features. One 
school whose time is limited, after the lesson has a song, 
a few T verses of Scripture to deepen the lesson impression, 
then a few sentence prayers, silent prayer, the Mizpah 
benediction, and then a march. 

(10) General suggestions for platform. — Be positive, not 
apologetic. See that the platform is at the right angle 
as to light. Keep the program moving. A lost minute is 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 13T 

a lost audience. Keep your hand on the throttle valve. 
"Smile, and the world smiles with you." Remember that 
scolding and scalding are only different by one letter. Com- 
mendation is the better weapon. Do not be sentiment- 
ally "mushy." Manly, straight-from-the-shoulder talking 
counts, but it should come straight from the heart, too. 
Command yourself, and you will command the schooL 
Never talk against disorder. The last person in the room, 
unless deaf, has a right to hear you. Details should have 
been so thoroughly arranged that the superintendent should 
not be needed at his desk until the moment of starting. 
And his coming should mean business. Adapt programs to 
weather. Sing bright songs on dark days. Use other peo- 
ple, at times, at points where they can improve upon you. 
Have at least one surprise feature on the program each 
Sunday. Use recitations by pupils sparingly. An occasional 
recitation by teacher or pupil of some strong selection that 
will light up and impress the lesson is O.K. A solo, duet, 
or quartet, with the right selection, will have a fitting 
place. A school choir for special chants is recommended. 
Have some reserve hymns in readiness. Remember, "Wor- 
ship is a life, not a ceremony." Advertise special features 
of program and lesson subject occasionally by a neat 
monthly card. Emphasize a special slogan for each month, 
such as "New Pupils' Month" (October) and "Get 
Acquainted Month" (November). Some schools have a 
monthly rally day. Programs, suggestions for missionary 
and temperance days, for the summer session, and for 
special school days, appear later. Ideas and plans for the 
birthday recognition and welcome service to new pupils 
appear in Chapter XIV. 

2. The session. (1) Before the session. — Anticipate. 
That means a superintendent at the school a half hour be- 
fore the program starts, loaded with his Bible, notebook of 
items requiring attention, his program, and sundry written 
messages to department superintendents, teachers, and pu- 
pils, the product of home planning, relating to the work of 



138 THE SUPERINTENDENT 



the day or to a score of things touching the personal life 
of the worker or pupil or to the school's upbuilding. He 
comes from his knees where he has met the Master, and 
those whom he greets know it. The Bible and program are 
placed on the desk ready for service. The messages are 
given to the secretary or the aides or pages for distribution. 
The superintendent then is free to greet teacher, pupil, the 
stranger, and the new pupil, to commend an early class, en- 
courage a new teacher, welcome the sick pupil returned. 
The friendly-grip committee, the ushers and assistant super- 
intendents, each having his prescribed work, are cooperat- 
ing. The superintendent may have organized a class of 
"Minute Men" as a reserve for any sort of service and calls 
upon them as helpers as need arises. He will see that such 
details as heating, ventilation, distribution of class boxes, 
class or record books, songbooks, and orders of service, the 
posting in a conspicuous place of the hymn board, with the 
number of the service for the day, are attended to, or that 
one of his assistants is charged with responsibility for these 
details. A ten-minute prayer service with cabinet officers or 
teachers before the session has been found a source of help 
in developing atmosphere. If there is an "executive" room 
in the school, the superintendent will meet here officers, 
teachers, and pupils before and after the session. When he 
is not in the room, an assistant superintendent should be 
there to attend to any inquiries. In that room should be 
a pigeon-hole compartment with places for every officer and 
teacher, for messages from and to the superintendent, and 
especially for the workers' special reports to him of items 
of interest and concern. 

(2) Prompt attendance. — We are touching a sore spot — 
the trial of many a superintendent. The following methods 
have been tried with success to bring pupils and teachers 
on time. Have a ten-minute song service or orchestral prac- 
tice before the opening. Practice rising and sitting dur- 
ing this time. Give ten minutes before the session to day- 
stereopticon views of the Holy Land or missionary fields. 



: 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 139 

This day stereopticon may be used to throw illustrated hymns 
upon the screen or the hymns of the day or to show a map 
of the lesson location. "Prompt" tickets, the "On Timers' 
Club," special marks and even rewards, class prompt-at- 
tendance contests, praise for punctuality, — all these help. 
Pull every string possible, through private talk and public 
commendation, to get the teacher there five minutes before 
the session. That will help the pupils' attendance. One 
superintendent promoted promptness by distributing to all 
as they entered, previous announcement having been made, 
a white envelope not to be opened until called for. During 
the session he asked those whose envelopes inclosed white 
cards to arise, then those whose envelopes held red cards, 
announcing as the latter arose, to their surprise and amuse- 
ment, "These are the people who came late this morning." 
The late list in that school was reduced nearly two thirds. 
For permanent results the method that will win out is to 
begin on time and with a service of worship that all know 
will have variety and strength. Close the doors at the mo- 
ment the school opens and do not reopen until a song or the 
completion of the opening service. When the late comers 
file in, let the school wait in silence until they are seated. 
When the superintendent is close to his teachers and pupils, 
his suggestion, example, and a good program will bring 
results. 

(3) Scliool order, — Reverence is at the heart of order. 
Order is dependent for its maintenance on the home train 
ing of the pupil, the teacher's example, the character of the 
program presented and its conduct, and upon the person- 
ality and will of the superintendent. Order is not a ques- 
tion of policing. Order procured by this method will form 
no setting for character impressions. It cannot be pro- 
duced by the bell. A boy in a certain Sunday school was 
asked why they came to order with the fifth stroke of the 
bell, and not with the first or second, and replied, "Oh, we 
were waiting for the fifth; he always rings five times." The 
pin-drop plan is a poor method. Some pin drops have been 



140 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

the signal for succeeding pandemonium. Order is not 
produced by demanding it or shouting for it. That dis- 
counts the superintendent, and the echo of that shout takes 
long to die. Order is well-regulated activity; not repression 
but interested expression; and the superintendent's job is 
to keep the channel open, to keep the machine well oiled 
with love and prayer, so that it runs and makes for power. 
An occasional frank, loving school talk about order, a 
private talk with teachers, the cooperation of a school com- 
mittee on order and program, with a member in each class, 
will help. At the school opening, after prelude by orchestra 
or instrument, or at a clear signal from a bugle or single 
violin or "signal choir" or quartet or from the piano by 
chords, the superintendent should arise and, in perfect 
quiet of manner, perhaps with uplifted hand, and with eyes 
that search the unquiet spots, wait for perfect silence. Then 
wait, with bowed heads, in a moment of silent prayer, 
followed by a chant or a sentence prayer. This method will 
insure an orderly opening. Then keep the exercises moving. 
But at no time talk against disorder. This is the ruin of 
order. A school will soon learn the superintendent's will, 
and then only an occasional suggestion may be required. 
The disorderly boy may be reached by a private frank talk 
and by giving him something to do. Isolation in teaching or 
demoting him for a Sunday may work a cure. It should 
rarely be necessary to expel from the session. A superin- 
tendent's personal interest in some week-day occupation 
of the boy will usually prove effective. The late and talking 
teacher is more likely to be at the heart of disorder than 
the boy. Sometimes the removal of the platform from the 
end to the side of a long room, so that the superintendent 
is in short-range instead of long-range touch with the 
pupils, will effectively cure disorder. 

(4) During the session. — The pastor and occasional 
visitors should find a place upon the school platform. The 
new pupil is recorded by the secretary and assigned to 
class by the educational superintendent, following the pu- 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 141 

pil's choice when in accordance with the grading plan. 
The substitute or educational superintendent will have the 
places of absent teachers filled from the substitute list or 
occasionally by competent visitors. During the lesson the 
superintendent will keep in circulation, watching and mend- 
ing weak points. He sees that teachers are protected from 
interruption, visits the departments without interfering 
with their program, drops into a class of restless boys with 
a smile and story that will relieve the teacher's tension 
and drive the lesson home, listens for a moment to a class 
teacher, sees a class that needs readjustment as to place, 
notes a dwindling class and ascertains the cause, consults 
with an assistant as to class and management problems. 
Better divisions of the classes may be necessary for best 
teaching results. Occasionally an entire change of seating 
will tone up the school. 

(5) The scJiool visitor. — A welcome surely for him by 
the stranger's or friendly-grip committee, a place in the 
visitor's chair, the inscription of the name in the guest 
book, with address and office occupied, if any, may precede 
a tour through the departments, so that the classes will 
not be interrupted. The visitor should be given the facts, 
as to the school workings and informing printed matter. 
A card or letter should be mailed on Monday morning ex- 
pressing the school's pleasure in the visit and inviting to 
school membership or a further visit. A follow-up visit 
to the home would be a good return call. "Once a visitor 
always a friend," or it is the school's fault. A school may 
correctly be judged by its attitude to the stranger. The 
methods or lack of methods in some schools on this point 
would ruin a business concern that applied it. 

(6) Dismissal. — The organization of the processionals 
and recessionals of the session is important, especially 
where departments or classes meet for the service of 
worship, retire for lesson purposes, and reconvene for the 
closing service. The electric bell is here of service in 
giving well-understood signals as to rising, forming in line, 



142 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

and marching. Piano signals are good, but the music 
should not be of the two-step order but some good hymn 
written in march time, possibly sung by all present as 
the classes march. In the recessional it has been found 
helpful to organize the returning classes as companies, with 
captains or sergeants-at-arms, seated next to the aisle. 
They rise at the first signal, and the classes at the second, 
making a dignified and orderly retirement. Following the 
lesson, after the five-minute warning signal, they return in 
the same form to the music of the piano or other instru- 
ments. In the final dismissal the same form may be used, 
the pupils returning for any special conference with teacher 
or superintendent. Dismissal by classes and sections can 
be well arranged. An effective dismissal is obtained 
through the plan, suggested under "Program," of a closing 
sentence, benediction, and a prayer-song played by instru- 
ments, with the pupils seated or standing and with bowed 
heads; or, following the final song, the members bow their 
heads at the uplifted hands of superintendent and, after a 
moment's silence, the instrument plays softly a prayer- 
song. This will make for a quiet dismissal. The distribu- 
tion of school papers should be accomplished as the mem- 
bers file out, and not during the session. If the superinten- 
dent expects teachers and pupils to be at school on the 
minute of opening, they have a right to expect him to dis- 
miss on the minute of closing time. Otherwise, the effect 
of the session will be lost upon some. 

(7) After the session. — A superintendent who is not busy 
for some time after the service has likely lost some oppor- 
tunities for personal service. He should be at the plat- 
form to greet new pupils and visitors with a cordial hand- 
shake for all. He has doubtless sent messages before the 
session to different pupils, teachers, or officers to meet 
him after the session on special business. He has an in- 
quiry of a pupil as to teaching service or a word of tender 
interest as to decision for Christ, possibly a prayer for the 
pupil. A committee is to be met or an executive session 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 143 

held. Letters on school matters may be dictated to the 
school stenographer. A twenty-minute teachers' or pupils' 
prayer-and-testimony service may be planned for. Many 
precious results have been obtained in such little meetings. 
On many a Sunday as he goes to his home he will have a 
new and sweet understanding of the weary Christ, who gave 
his uttermost to men. 

3, The summer session. (1) The summer problem. — 
The fact that fully 50 per cent of the enrollment of the 
average city Sunday school remains in the city throughout 
the summer, and that the devil is at that time holding his 
revival services is sufficient reason for the Sunday school 
to remain open. Were the attendance but 10 per cent of 
the enrollment, the school should still remain open. The 
experience of many schools that have aroused themselves 
to meet the summer problem has demonstrated the fact; 
that success just here is a matter of planning and grit. 

But there is a duty also owing the school in sustaining its 
interest through continuous sessions and thus launching 
it full upon its fall work. The only question that should 
be before the superintendent and school with reference to 
the summer sessions is how to make them so attractive 
that the full attendance of all members who are in the city 
may be assured. 

(2) How to meet it. — Make no mention in the school of 
expectation of a drop-off because of the summer. Ascertain 
early, on cards, the names and addresses of all teachers 
and pupils who intend to be out of town and the length and 
time of their expected period of absence. Send to such 
pupils, before they leave, a letter inclosing a vacation card 
to be marked at the school they may attend, an envelope for 
their vacation school offering, and an outline of suggested 
Bible readings for the summer. Those pupils who plan to 
be in the city should receive a card attractively setting 
forth the summer plans. Appoint the following commit- 
tees or assign their duties to one or two committees: (a) 
Comfort and decoration committee, to plan for ice water. 



144 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

iced lemonade occasionally or regularly, fans, ventilation, 
and shading of rooms, pictures for walls, flag, and other 
decoration. (&) Flower committee, to arrange for plants, 
palms, and flowers. The latter may be brought by classes 
in their turn or furnished by the school and a flower given 
to each attending pupil or sent to the sick, (c) Absentee 
committee, to visit absentees who, according to their card 
statement of intention, are in town, (d) Literature com- 
mittee, to keep in circulation some fresh books and maga- 
zines and papers of special interest to young people, (e) 
Reception committee, to greet pupils and strangers. (/) 
Program and advertising committee, to assist the superin- 
tendent in providing interesting program features and ad- 
vertising these in the local paper, special school paper, bul- 
letin, and in card form. The pastor should give good heart 
to the summer work by arousing congregational support of 
it, by teaching in some of the sessions, and by encouraging 
teachers to stand by their classes during the season. 

(3) The summer session. — Schools that have attained 
the largest summer success have brought the session within 
an hour and a quarter, and usually within an hour. The 
lesson has been sacredly given from twenty minutes to 
half an hour. The other program items are varied, and 
the surprise element introduced through at least one new 
feature each Sunday. Much should be made of the music, 
and the orchestra impressed into service wherever possible. 
The lessons of the summer should be arranged, and the 
program features be based, wherever possible, on the lesson 
subjects. Sometimes places in these lessons are outstand- 
ing, and a map journey may be arranged in story form 
for each week; or a "hero summer" may be planned about 
the principal lesson characters, or events may be pictured. 

At times the classes of the department or school have 
been combined, and the lesson taught from the desk by 
pastor, superintendent, or, in turn, by the teachers. Object 
teaching, map drills, and chalk talks in lesson illustration 
have been used. Supplemental Bible drills, the learning of 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 145 

new hymns, salute to flag with the story of flag, phonograph 
solo or quartet, letters from absent officers and teachers, 
stereopticon illustrations of lesson, a solo or duet, and 
recitations have been used helpfully as summer features. 

Some schools, such as the Chester Hill Methodist Epis- 
copal Sunday School, of Mount Vernon, New York, put 
the lesson places upon a trip-ticket form, the last coupon 
entitling the holder, who must have attended the school 
during the summer, to a full entertainment with refresh- 
ments. Special missionary lessons are planned for sum- 
mer use as a part of the graded lessons. At the Second 
Baptist Church of Rochester the story of "Pilgrim's 
Progress," illustrated with slides, was made a weekly Sun- 
day summer feature. The stereopticon was also used in 
that school to throw upon the screen each Sunday the 
two "search questions" of the lesson, and pupils who an- 
swered these correctly through the summer received a 
souvenir on Rally Day. The classes in turn could be made 
responsible for the opening service in selecting Scripture 
and hymns, and for the introduction of special features, the 
teacher presiding. In a New York school the absent pupils 
send weekly to the teacher their thoughts on the lesson. The 
thought voted best by the class is sent to the superintendent 
and read, and the point voted by the school as the best 
of all the classes is rewarded. The advertisement of the 
sessions by weekly or monthly season cards is an important 
element. Such cards may combine a suggestion of the 
program with a bright putting of the telling school fea- 
tures and breathing a spirit of welcome. One school gave 
fifteen minutes at the close each Sunday to missionary 
travel talks with slides on Mexico, Panama, the Canal, 
Colombia, and other parts of South America. These slides 
can be obtained from the Foreign Mission Board of the de- 
nomination. 

The Methodist school at Saint Clair, Missouri, largely 
increased both summer attendance and offerings through 
competitive boys' and girls' Sundays in the summer. On 



146 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

girls' Sunday the girls decorated the room, secured the 
attendance, and conducted the program throughout. Teach- 
ers advised with the committees, and three men, not mem- 
bers of the Sunday school, acted as judges. For the best 
program twenty points were allowed, for the best decora- 
tions twenty points, for the largest attendance thirty points, 
and for the largest offering thirty points. The girls adopted 
the tag plan to secure attendance for their Sunday. The 
boys placed five advertisements in the local paper. The 
boys won out. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School at Yonkers, 
New York, has made a wonderful success of its summer 
loyalty campaign. It issues a folder giving a complete pro- 
gram- for each summer Sunday. The motto is: "Remember 
the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." The aim is "to make the 
summer memorable for continuous loyalty throughout every 
department of our school." Names of the general cam- 
paign committee and of the committee for each Sunday are 
printed. The program is headed, "One dozen live programs 
for a live summer in a live Sunday school." Program 
features, beginning with the last Sunday in June, are: (a) 
Enrollment Day, to enroll all who propose to go through 
the campaign. Cards are distributed to be punched each 
Sunday. (&) Independence Day, on which two of the 
classes took charge and presented each one present with a 
flag. (c) Cradle Roll and Primary Day. (d) Young 
Women's Day, with solos by the young women and an ad- 
dress by the Y. W. C. A. secretary, (e) Flower Sunday, 
with a class display of flowers, a buttonhole bouquet to be 
worn by all, and the distribution of flowers to sick. (/) 
Poem Sunday. Each member is tc contribute an original 
poem on "Our Class," the best to be read, (g) Home De- 
partment Day, in charge of the Home Department superin- 
tendent and members. (7i) Letter Sunday. Picture post 
cards from absent members are displayed, and letters read. 
(i) Bible Verse Hide-and-Seek Sunday. Each class passes 
in a verse. These are read, and the class finding it first 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 147 

arise and reads it. The class members finding the most 
verses are all decorated with white badges. (;) Memory 
Verse Sunday. Those who, between July 1 and August 26, 
recite the greatest number of memory verses, the twenty- 
third Psalm, and the Beatitudes are especially honored. 

At the Bushwick Avenue School, Brooklyn, last summer 
a summer-school superintendent was appointed, and the 
school met in two groups: Beginners' and Primary; and 
Juniors, Intermediates, and Seniors. The slogan was "God 
knows no seasons." In turn the leaders of each depart- 
mental group became responsible for the program for the 
day, letters to parents were sent, the plan was well adver- 
tised on a streamer in front of the building and in the press, 
and bulletins were issued. The attendance was nearly 
double that of the previous summer. 

The Twenty-third Avenue Presbyterian Sunday School 
of Denver had a summer program booklet distributed the 
last Sunday in June with the plan for each Sunday, (a) 
Conquest Sunday, (ft) Good Samaritan Sunday, with the 
Red Cross flag and emphasis, (c) Home Mission Sunday. 
(d) Song Sunday, (e) Colorado Sunday. (/) Emancipa- 
tion Day, with colored quartet, (g) Flower Day, with a 
reward for the best product of garden and most beautiful 
bouquet, (ft) Living Link Sunday, with letters from mis- 
sionaries, school students in foreign field. (i) Loyalty 
Sunday, with pennants, flags, and emphasis upon loyalty to 
country, day school, and Sunday school. The lesson for the 
day was never omitted. 

In the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Sunday School of 
Minneapolis the Sundays were: (a) Flag Day. (&) Flowers 
and pictures of flowers, (c) Boys' Day. (d) Bird Day. (e) 
Mountain and Sea Day. (/) Girls' Day. (g) Harvest Day. 
(h) "Making a Record" Sunday, (i) Fruit Day. Scripture 
was used covering each topic. 

The Philadelphia Sunday School Association promoted 
through the Sunday schools of the city a city-wide ob- 
servance of special days in the summer program. A pro- 



148 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

gram was printed and issued to the schools for: July 3, 
"National Day"; July 10, "Memory Day"; July 17, "Phila- 
delphia Day"; July 24, "Church Hymn Day"; July 31, 
"Service Day"; August 7, "Surprise Day"; August 14, "Bi- 
ble Day"; August 21, "World Wide Day"; August 28, "God 
of the Open Air"; September 4, "Labor Day"; September 11, 
" 'What Have We Done?' Day." On Memory Day the entire 
program was rendered from memory. On Service Day the 
Scouts, Christian Endeavor, or Young People's Society and 
organized classes told what they were doing. 

(4) Recognition of summer attendance. — Among sug- 
gested forms may be named: Monthly stereopticon or mov- 
ing pictures on a week evening. Church-film and other cor- 
porations are specializing on films for church and Sunday- 
school use. Missionary films are now available through 
the foreign missionary societies. Weekly class outings. A 
monthly or midsummer excursion, possibly a combination 
with other schools, pupils being given free ice cream, lemon- 
ade, or melons. Special souvenirs. The class with the best 
summer record to be given an auto ride and a special place 
of honor on Rally Day. Swimming tickets for the boys 
at the Y. M. C. A. or elsewhere. A badge to be won on 
Rally Day by all absent not more than two Sundays of the 
summer. 

(5) Methods for promoting interest. — Offer a prize for 
the best plans to promote a successful summer session. 
Absent summer pupils should send weekly souvenir post 
cards to their teachers, these post cards to be mounted in a 
class group and exhibited at a school post-card social in the 
fall, and absentees to tell their experiences. Summer attend- 
ance contests between schools are frequently promotive of 
good results. Outdoor sessions have everything in their 
favor. Special handwork for the summer has a value within 
limits. During the summer new wall pictures and mottoes 
should be added, or the old one shifted, and class and de- 
partment rooms brightened in preparation for the fall. 
A boys' camp or summer home, conducted by the school 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 149 

or by classes, would be a good investment in gripping young 
people and their homes. The church and school should 
provide grounds for baseball, tennis, croquet, and outdoor 
athletics for the young people. To get the best summer 
results will cost, but the increased offerings will ordinarily 
cover this cost; and if not, the investment has been among 
the best in the school's career. 

Absent teachers and pupils may send post cards to depart- 
ment or school secretary to be exhibited in the school vesti- 
bule and afterward arranged in album form. A correspond- 
ing secretary may keep in a vacation book the addresses 
of all away, and, once or twice during the summer, send a 
school greeting, encouraging the pupil to visit other schools, 
and to report, the best of these reports to be read for the 
school interest. An early-morning session has been found 
helpful for a change. In the writer's school the session has 
been maintained at two-thirty, summer and winter. It 
has been felt unwise to make a change that would leave 
the summer Sunday afternoon open to the pull of the many 
pleasure attractions that throng the section. 

The parade of the local school or schools just before the 
summer or at its close will be inspirational. Many towns 
and cities are now doing this, following the annual custom 
of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union, which has in line 
in its June parade more than one hundred thousand Sun- 
day-school members. 

The possibilities of the summertime in helping forward 
Christian decisions through the close fellowship promoted 
among the pupils are not to be minimized. 

Some schools have held forget-me-not socials. The names 
and addresses of ten of those who will be at home for the 
summer are given by lot to each one who is going away in 
order, first, to make their acquaintance, and then to bring 
for each of the ten to the fall social a simple, inexpensive 
remembrance found by the pupils who write. At the social 
these ten are grouped, and the remembrance given, to- 
gether with the story connected with it. 



150 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

The H. W. B. of A. (Hot Weather Brigade of Augustin- 
ians) has heen formed in several schools for the summer 
campaign. The members wear badges or buttons, have 
their summer outings, baseball team, and a treat in the 
autumn. 

(6) The absent teacher. — This is a serious problem both 
as to the teacher who will be out of town and the teacher 
who stays at home because only a few of the class are ex- 
pected out. For the latter the superintendent should pray. 
A leaflet such as "My Class for Jesus" and an earnest, 
kindly talk may bring to such a realization of the value of 
a single soul. The superintendent should present to the 
former, alone or as a part of the teachers' body, the neces- 
sity of supplying a substitute for the class and of introduc- 
ing that substitute to the class before leaving. Sometimes 
a teacher may make an arrangement with another teacher 
for the care of the combined classes while absent and the 
marking of the pupils. If neither can be done, the super- 
intendent must have recourse to the substitute list, the 
teacher-training class, or a young people's or adult class 
whose teacher expects to be away and who will be willing 
to help for the summer. The Epworth League or a similar 
organization may be willing to serve in this way. Some 
class may be willing to study the lesson one week in ad- 
vance in order to be ready. Such substitute teachers should 
be recognized in some public way at the close of the sum- 
mer. 

The teacher should be urged whether away or at home 
to keep in touch with the pupils through letter or souvenir 
post card, asking questions on the lesson, encouraging the 
absent pupils to write letters or to send cards for the class 
interest. 

Bibliography 

How to Conduct a Sunday School, Lawrance. 
The Manual for Training in Worship, Hartshorne. 
The Sunday School at Work, Faris. 



PROGRAM AND SESSION 151 

Topics for Special Study 

1. Sunday-school programs. 

2. Summer Sunday schools. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What is the chief purpose of the program? 

2. What are its four main divisions? 

3. Should prayer in the Sunday school be spontaneous 
or prepared? 

4. Give several plans for maintaining school order. 

5. Give the chief items in a well-balanced program. 

6. How may a superintendent create atmosphere and suc- 
cess for the session? 

7. How can he best employ his time in the lesson period? 

8. What shall be the division of time of the session? 

9. State the most important points concerning the work 
of the superintendent during the session. 

10. Give several features of a live summer session. 



CHAPTER X 
PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 

1. Bible drills. How to get the Bible into the memory 
and life of the pupil is an important element in our task. 
The teacher's responsibility for this task is shared by the 
superintendent. Through effective platform drills the super- 
intendent can be a helper to the teacher. This drill work 
may and should include the supplemental work treated 
in another chapter or it may include other material. It 
should be done as a part of the supplemental drill work 
where the drill material does not form a part of the open- 
ing service. The blackboard will be a valuable accessory 
in the use of diagrams and outlines. A Bible drill pre- 
supposes the Bible in the hands of the pupils. This may 
not mean the exclusion of the lesson helps from the school 
session, for they may have their use in matters of refer- 
ence; but the Bible should be given prominence in use. 
One of the school objectives should be "A Bible in the hands 
of every teacher and pupil," certainly of all pupils above 
the Primary Department. Many schools have made this 
their ideal, and wonders can be accomplished by persistence. 
These suggestions are made to help bring this about: 

(1) Methods to encourage Bible bringing. — (a) Bring 
your own Bible and use it. (b) Ask the teachers and pu- 
pils to bring and use theirs in the lesson reading and 
study, (c) Present Bibles in the Primary Department as 
awards, (d) Sell to those who have not so earned them, if 
necessary below cost, (e) Have classes rise when each 
one in the class has brought a Bible. (7i) Put upon the 
blackboard lists of such classes for the previous Sunday, 
(i) Have the weekly school report show the number of 
Bibles brought in each department and in the school as 

152 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 153 

a whole. (;) Use the Bibles in reading selected Psalms 
and passages and for the Bible drill. (7c) Place the Bible 
lesson reference on the blackboard, so that pupils can be 
ready. (I) Teachers can ask pupils to find references from 
their Bibles, (m) Have a Bible roll call of classes, each 
class responding with the number of Bibles, answering 
"All" for a complete number. There can be no finer con- 
tribution to the pupil's life than to inspire a love for and to 
cultivate the daily use of the Bible. The little girl was not 
far wrong when she said she first learned to love her 
teacher, then her teacher's Bible, then her teacher's Christ. 
(2) Suggested plans of Bible marking. — The Bible pre- 
sented in the Primary Department should be replaced later 
on by a well-bound rice-paper copy "for keeps," with helps 
and marginal references — the American Revised Version, 
of course. Suggest the inscription in the Bible of the name 
and life text, the date of life decision and joining church, 
times of special blessings, and important life steps. Special 
verses should be marked or underlined with initial and 
name, those especially which have been tested and have 
brought personal help and blessing; such verses, for in- 
stance, as Matt. 7. 7; 2 Cor. 9. 8. The Bible books may 
be marked with appropriate names, such as Heb. 11: "The 
Faith Chapter." Rich suggestions as to these may be 
found in the leaflet Chapters of Pure Gold, Yatman (Flem- 
ing H. Revell Company), and Chapters of Blessing From 
the Book of Life, Henderson (The Methodist Book Con- 
cern). In The Bible Marksman, by Amos R. Wells (United 
Society of Christian Endeavor, Boston) and Amos R. Wells 
Bible Memory Helpers (Goodenough and Woglom Com- 
pany, New York) are excellent suggestions as to Bible mark- 
ing. But any system, self-developed or suggested, which 
will make the Bible more fully the personal possession of 
the pupil is the one to be desired. The rainbow bookmarks 
are much in use among the juniors. They consist of eight 
narrow strips of ribbon representing the colors of the rain- 
bow, with the addition of white. The first ribbon is placed 



154 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

in the Bible at Pentateuch, the next at the prophets, and 
so on, the white marking the division between the Old 
and New Testaments. These bookmarks can be made easily 
from ribbon and will be found a valuable aid in Bible-drill 
work. 

(3) Drill suggestions. — The following are mere sugges- 
tions of procedure. The form of questioning is subject to 
large variation, and the material is simply suggestive of 
the wealth at hand in the Book we use. Find in turn the 
Ten Commandments, Solomon's prayer, the Shepherd 
Psalm, Moses' psalm, Isaiah's description of the Messiah, the 
great commandment, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beati- 
tudes, the Magnificat, the Lord's Prayer, Christ's last com- 
mand, the first account of Paul's conversion, Paul's speech 
on Mars' Hill, his gallery of faith heroes, his chapter on love, 
John's Epistle to the seven churches, and his description 
of the Eternal City. 

Find the longest verse in the Bible, the shortest verse, 
the longest chapter, four verses alike (Psa. 107. 8, 15, 21, 
31) ; two chapters alike (2 Kings 19 and Isa. 37) ; the rest 
verse (Matt. 11. 28) ; the greatest verse (John 3. 16) ; the 
last command (Acts 1. 8). 

Find the verse "All have sinned, and fall short of the 
glory of God." Where? Find a verse on love; prayer; 
faith; temperance; missions. 

Or try an exercise in the rapid finding of such passages 
as Psa. 91. 1; Matt. 11. 18; 1 Tim. 1. 18; Josh. 1. 9; Dan. 12. 
3; Deut. 20. 4; Psa. 119. 65; Gal. 6. 2; John 3. 16. Care- 
ful additions to these texts will give pupils a Bible quiver 
filled with choice texts for life-long use. 

A rapid finding of special chapters will be good, such as 
the sin chapter (Rom. 3) ; the atonement chapter (Isa. 53) ; 
the new-birth chapter (John 3); the salvation chapter 
(Rom. 10) ; the light chapter (John 9) ; the purity chapter 
(Ezek. 36) ; the love chapter (1 Cor. 13) ; the abiding chap- 
ter (John 15) ; the resurrection chapter (1 Cor. 15) ; the 
best chapter (John 14). 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 155 

In memory work there are many interesting drills, such 
as the alphabetical drill: A: "All have sinned" (Rom. 3. 
23) ; B: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the 
sin of the world!" (John 1. 29) ; 'C : "Come unto me" (Matt. 
11. 28) ; D: "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to 
you" (James 4. 8); E: "Enter ye in by the narrow gate" 
(Matt. 7. 13). Or Bible characters can be fitted into the 
alphabetical plan, and the pupils give the name and first 
Bible reference to them. Classes or pupils can be asked 
in turn to bring in on the following Sunday verses begin- 
ning with succeeding letters in the alphabet, and the drill 
made on these. This will interest pupils in selecting the 
best verses. Under this head comes the calling for the 
recitation of pivotal texts, the superintendent giving the 
location as to book, chapter, and verse. Every school 
should have several such verses with wnich every pupil 
should be as familiar as his own name. These should be 
in card form for insertion in Bible. 

Drills on the Bible itself are many, covering names of 
the Bible, languages in which it was written, names and 
number of Bible books, the meaning of these books, di- 
vision as to Testaments; division as to prophecy, his- 
torical books, and poetry; the bounding of Bible books (the 
book before and after the one given). 

The memorizing of selected Bible chapters and hymns 
under the stimulus of special rewards or acknowledgment 
is done in many schools, and the recitation of these by 
pupils or classes in the school session is stimulating. Some 
of these schools give out card folders for a quarter or year, 
in which the memory chapters, verses and hymns are in 
full or indicated. Usually it is better to have the work re- 
quired of all, and the pupil marked for it as a part of the 
regular system, the reward to come in the promotion with 
an honor seal. In the junior age, especially, drill and 
memory work is a delightful exercise, but should be con- 
ducted in a bright way. Indeed, the junior age is the one 
in which the best work can be done in memorization. 



156 THE SUPERINTENDENT 



The First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School of Yonkers, 
New York, had a Hide-and-Seek Verse Contest Sunday. The 
superintendent gave out a verse, and the members of the 
class first finding it arose and read the verse and location. 
That scored a point. The classes with the most points 
were decorated with white ribbons. This Sunday school 
also had a Memory Verse Sunday, the pupil with the best 
record for a period being given a pocket Testament. 

What great men have said about the Bible makes a fine 
drill. The leader calls the name of the person quoted, and 
someone reads or recites the statement. (The American 
Bible Society, New York City, has these statements in 
pamphlet form.) 

2. Blackboard work. (1) Learning to use the black- 
board. — As teaching through the eye gate is much more 
effective than through the ear gate, it behooves the super- 
intendent to qualify as a user of the blackboard. He may 
have no artistic skill and possibly no ability to draw even 
a straight line; but if he will sit down for an hour with 
The Blackboard Class for Primary Sunday School Teachers, 
Darnell, he will rise with a new sense of his capacity. And 
that confidence will be increased as he browses in Pencil 
Points for Preacher and Teacher, Pierce, and Pictured 
Truth (Fleming H. Revell Company) ; The Blackboard in 
Sunday School, Bailey (Wilde) ; Plain Use of the Black- 
board and Slate, Crafts (The Methodist Book Concern); 
Chalk, Wood (Fleming H. Revell Company). 

(2) Blackboard material. — Usually it is better to use the 
bright-colored chalks and to print the letters rather than 
write them, so that the pupil farthest back can see. It is 
better that the blackboard be stationary, with double space 
if possible, in a clear stretch, or one board running over 
the other in grooves. This will enable one board to be used 
for announcements, reports, and class records, and the 
other to be kept for special uses. A portable blackboard 
with double surface may be procured cheaply, or slate-sur- 
faced canvas or heavy Manila paper may be used. 






PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 157 

(3) Blackboard uses. — The barest mark or outline placed 
upon the blackboard in connection with the spoken word 
attracts the attention and aids in impressing the truth and 
storing it away effectively in memory's gallery. The sim- 
pler that outline the better. A blackboard artist in the 
school may put the lesson thought in pictured form upon 
the board, a paper tacked over it to be taken off at the 
moment of review. A question aimed at the heart of the 
lesson may be placed on the board at the beginning of the 
service to suggest thought and discussion. An outline map 
that will include the lesson locality may be swiftly drawn. 
For Palestine draw just the coast line and the three bodies 
of water connected by the river Jordan. With a little prac- 
tice this can be done in a few seconds. A pupil may be 
asked to mark upon the map the lesson location. Events 
and journeys may also be noted. The board is valuable for 
Bible-drill work, such as is suggested in the previous sec- 
tion, in Bible divisions and in Bible acrostics. In review 
work a few bold words placed on the board while the 
superintendent talks will serve every purpose of holding 
attention. 

3. Object teaching. (1) Its effectiveness. — The Bible 
is our warrant for the use of objects in teaching the truth. 
The tabernacle and its appurtenances and the Temple were 
object methods concerning sins, atonement, cleansing, God's 
holiness. Christ continually used this method, in his para- 
bles of the lily of the field, the sparrow, seed sowing, the 
ripened harvest, the fig tree, the mustard seed, and the 
little child in the midst. The public school of to-day makes 
large use of this method of eye teaching. The ease with 
which attention can be gained and held in object teaching 
points a possible danger in its overuse and in such a use 
of it that the real lesson to be conveyed shall be obscured 
by the object itself. Its advantages are, however, so ob- 
vious that a wise superintendent will seek to make the 
largest possible use of it consistent with best results. 

(2) Material. — Some superintendents have cabinets of 



158 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

object materials, such as tools, candles, seed, bulbs, soil, 
coins, flowers, products of Palestine, and models, from 
which they draw as needed. A list of objects and lessons 
to be drawn from them would be a long one. A wealth of 
material is suggested in Object Sermons in Outline, Tyn- 
dall (Fleming H. Revell Company) ; Talks to the King's 
Children, Stahl (Funk & Wagnalls Company) ; and Object 
Lessons for Junior Work, Wood (Fleming H. Revell Com- 
pany). 

It is wonderful how simple an object can be used with 
effect. Colored pencils and crayons of different lengths have 
been used to illustrate the different races of the world 
and their relative numbers. A sling and pebble will illus- 
trate the story of David. A golden rule with the words on 
it will interest children always. The winding of thread 
around a boy will teach the growing power of habit. A 
blind-folded boy led by a silken strand impresses the power 
of influence. The lily bulb and lily suggest the resurrection 
story. The old illustration of sin and its results and cure 
by means of pouring into a bottle of water tincture of 
iodine until black, and then pouring saturated solution of 
hyposulphite of soda until the water is restored to natural 
color, is always effective, especially if appropriate Scrip- 
ture verses be used at each point of the illustration. These 
are merely suggestive of the possibilities in object teaching. 

4. The review. Hamill has said, "The review is the 
completion, end, and confirmation of teaching. ,, The super- 
intendent's relation to the review is twofold: first, through 
the weekly workers' meeting, in the preparation of his 
teachers for effective teaching on a plan that shall be de- 
veloped in the weekly and quarterly review; and, secondly, 
the conduct of the review in a way that shall give it va- 
riety, zest, and climax. It has been said that the test of 
good teaching is not what a pupil can remember but what 
he cannot forget. The review has this last as its objective. 

(1) The review and the graded lessons. — The review 
plans as suggested below are practicable only where the 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 159 

uniform lessons are used. Where the graded lessons are 
in use, a desk review is of course not practicable with 
three or four courses of lessons in each department. The 
review in that case must be a class review conducted by 
the teacher, unless all the classes of each grade can be 
combined for purposes of review by someone appointed for 
that purpose. With graded lessons the superintendent's 
weekly or other review involves only the supplemental and 
general Bible drill work. 

(2) The weekly review. — There are two views of the 
weekly review. One is that it should not be a review in the 
sense of covering by question or statement the lesson facts 
and points, but should consist in the selection of some cen- 
tral truth and, by strong illustration and appeal, point it 
home to the pupil's heart and week-day life. Many strong 
superintendents incline to this method. The other method 
is to draw out the salient facts and teachings by brisk 
questioning that shall arouse interest, supplement the 
weak teacher, and focus the lesson points. An appeal may 
be a part of such a plan. Either should keep in view the 
tying up of the lesson in a plan of quarterly review, the 
review time limit of, say, five minutes, and the possible 
use of the blackboard for the eye impression. 

The superintendent should conduct the review if possible. 
If he has not the talent for it, another may be selected, or 
variety may be obtained by asking another to do the work 
for a limited time. This may be a teacher, the pastor, or 
an officer. In question and plan the review should cover 
all ages to be reached. The review should start with some- 
thing all will probably know, to obtain a general interest, 
leading up swiftly to the point or points to be clinched. 

The illustration that is drawn out of the superintendent's 
own experience or observation is likely to carry the great- 
est force. Some current event may prove excellent material 
for illustration. One of the best superintendents, Dr. A. F. 
Schauffler, often ran the gamut of the review on the ques- 
tion heads: When? Where? Why? What? What then? 



160 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

He frequently used the word-picture plan, when the lesson 
lent itself to this method, the pupils supplying the impor- 
tant facts. A pivotal question shot out just before the 
lesson study, to be answered afterward, is sometimes a 
profitable plan; or the question may be asked the previous 
Sunday, the answer to be surely called for the following 
Sunday. 

The map and blackboard plan has been referred to. One 
enterprising superintendent spends much time on prepara- 
tion of some illustrative objects for each Sunday, such as 
a spear, sling, shield, and even a battering ram. An oc- 
casional review souvenir is given out, as, for instance, a 
hand outlined on cardboard, suggesting on it "Five things 
that made Joseph a great man." Head, hand, and heart 
must be combined in a review worth while. 

(3) The quarterly review. — The quarterly review has 
been the bugbear of the superintendent, usually because 
not planned for until just before review Sunday, with no 
time for a well-developed cooperative plan. When the 
review is planned for as a part of the school routine, all are 
stirred up to some readiness by the certainty of its coming. 
It is due the teachers and officers that the superintendent 
have a clear understanding with them as to the objective 
and plan of each quarter's review. If the superintendent 
has not the review well planned for, it is fairer to the 
teachers that they be given the opportunity of reviewing 
the lesson in their classes; but the teacher should know 
this well in advance of review Sunday. 

(a) The preview. — A good review requires a preview. 
This involves some planning, but it is worth all it costs. 
Fifteen minutes should be taken with a large map, and the 
places that are to locate the lesson shown, the itinerary 
outlined, suggesting briefly the outstanding persons and 
events involved, and a basis thus laid for an intelligent 
quarter's work. 

(&) The written review. — The plan of written quarterly 
reviews obtains among the Sunday schools in India, Trini- 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 161 

dad, and in many schools of this country. Certificates of 
the Sunday-school association are presented to those passing 
the examination in the countries first named. Local schools 
here do the same. 

The plan for any school involves the preparation of ten 
to twenty questions suited to each department. These are 
printed or duplicated by any process. They are distributed 
on review Sunday to be filled out in the session without 
help from the teacher. Sometimes the questions may be 
of a character involving a little Bible work, and in that 
case they may be taken home and brought in at a stated 
time. Or they may be taken home for fuller answer than 
would be possible in the class and, of course, without help. 
Original papers or essays on vital subjects on the quarter's 
work may be asked for, or a resume of the lessons in the 
pupil's own language may be brought in with or without 
the guidance of questions. Marks for such work may be 
given by the supplemental secretary, recognizing correct- 
ness, neatness, and scope. All effort should be noticed. 

(c) Oral review plans. — The plans for oral review are 
many. In the limits of our space they are outlined only 
briefly. 

Stereopticon. — Lantern slides illustrating any quarter's 
lesson may be selected from the catalogues of dealers (Bess- 
ler Lantern Slide Company; Riley Optical Company, New 
York; Williams, Browne & Earle, Philadelphia; Mclntire 
Stereopticon Company; George W. Bond Slide Company, 
Chicago; and Keystone View Company, Meadville, Penn- 
sylvania. Write also to your denominational Sunday-school 
headquarters). These may be used on Sunday or in an 
evening review to which members of the Home Department 
are invited. The titles and Golden Texts may be asked for, 
and several members of the school selected to give a prac- 
tical thought from each lesson or to give a brief character 
sketch. The relation of the picture to the lesson may be 
explained as found necessary; a few songs bearing on the 
lesson may be thrown upon the screen and sung, and a 



162 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

brief closing message may be given. If a map is intro- 
duced, the pictures should illustrate the journey from 
point to point, and the lesson events should be developed. 

Map review. — A large outline map may be drawn upon 
Manila paper or upon the blackboard; or an ordinary map 
may be used, and the location of the lesson points indicated 
by seals or stars, with lines in colored chalk or strings to 
show the line of progress from point to point, the lesson 
facts developing with the journey. 

Object review. — This requires some object for each les- 
son as suggesting some fact of the lesson. Around that 
build the lesson review. If some of the materials are really 
Eastern, a sense of reality may thus be given to the lesson 
review. 

Word-picture plan. — When vividly done this is a fas- 
cinating method. The pictures are left incomplete, the 
pupils to fill in the character or place or action or saying 
of each. 

Golden Text review. — A good suggestion for the spirit- 
ual truth of each lesson is usually centered in its Golden 
Text. Review will involve, of course, weekly emphasis 
upon these texts through placing them prominently before 
the school upon charts or upon large cards. The first word 
or two of each text on the blackboard constitutes a good 
drill method. Pupils should be asked to locate the texts 
in their Bibles. The text may be given by the superinten- 
dent, and the lesson facts asked for of pupils, or the facts 
given by him, and the Golden Text requested. The title 
or lesson number may be given, and a class asked for the 
Golden Text. Or the location of the text may be given, 
and a class asked to recite it and give the lesson title. 
Candles of different colors representing the Golden Texts 
may be stuck to a board and lighted as the texts and titles 
are repeated by pupils or classes. A pupil may give the 
lesson story and a leading thought, and the class the pupil 
represents may rise and repeat the Golden Text of that 
lesson. 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 163 

Other plans. — Select twelve teachers or pupils to give 
in two minutes each the lesson event and truth, or four 
teachers three lessons each. Turn the review on great 
characters of the quarter. A Saint Paul Sunday school 
(House of Hope Chapel) issued a quarterly review card 
naming five characters to be studied about during the 
quarter (Joshua, Gideon, Naomi, Ruth, and Samuel) and 
a few facts about each, and suggested to pupils the reading 
during the quarter of the whole of Joshua and Ruth and 
several chapters in Judges and Samuel. This made a 
good basis for the review. 

Review on great statements or sayings of the quarter. 
Who spoke them and where? Apportion among classes 
work in the form of brief statements or papers on Orien- 
talisms, historic setting, lesson events, persons or places, 
or ask individuals to be ready on these special points. 

Times, places, persons, doings, sayings, or teachings may 
be the backbone for a given lesson. One superintendent 
called it "the thirteenth lesson" instead of review, taking 
the general thought of the twelve lessons, omitting details, 
and developing the lessons in their larger sweep of meaning. 
Twelve pupils or teachers may give the lessons as a serial 
story, each title a chapter heading, the story told in the 
pupils' own words, and, at different points, Oriental pic- 
tures shown by the superintendent. An Adult Department 
used a "newspaper review," each lesson event being put in 
a brief, startling statement, and a class member telling 
the story. - George A. Lewis tells of a "burning light re- 
view" with reference to lessons in the Acts. A large out- 
line map of Palestine and Asia Minor is used. As se- 
lected persons tell the story of each lesson in the progress 
of the gospel, candles are outlined in yellow crayon at 
each point reached by the gospel, until the spread of the 
apostles' work from Jerusalem onward can be clearly seen. 
A wall may be built up of large blocks, on each of which 
will appear a word standing for the lesson thought. Topics 
crystallizing the lessons may be assigned to the Ci clder pu- 



164 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

pils for preparation of brief papers to be read. The large 
lesson pictures or large lesson cards may be stretched 
across the room on wire and made the basis of the review 
for the quarter. Twelve blackboard questions may be so 
carefully put as to bring out the heart of each lesson. 
Twelve words may be used to express the heart of each 
lesson. In one school each class gave a lesson in a simple 
tableau, the school guessing the lesson title. 

The blackboard or large Manila sheet may be divided 
into twelve squares. In each a simple design may be 
drawn, recalling the lesson theme. Or twelve sheets turn- 
ing on a frame or easel may be used. On each sheet 
merely the design will be drawn, and the title and the 
Golden Text filled in after questioning. Review-question 
contest plans are favored in many classes and schools for 
evoking a live interest in the preparation for review Sun- 
day and on the day itself. The usual plan is for the super- 
intendent or teacher to prepare a list of fifty to one hun- 
dred questions on the lessons. The pupils are divided 
equally, and the questions asked of individuals or classes 
alternately. A leader may be chosen for each section, and 
this section leader ask questions of the other side, of the 
pupil, the class, or the section. Sometimes sides are 
•chosen, or the boys matched against the girls. An inter- 
esting plan is to have a boys* and a girls' class prepare 
themselves on the lesson facts of the quarter, and then have 
all the classes of the department or school ask questions 
in turn of the two classes. Map-drawing contests may be 
undertaken as a basis for the review, pupils locating the 
-chief lesson points on them, the best of these maps to be 
exhibited. One school used a review in twelve colors, a 
thread* in each color standing for some quality of Christ as 
brought out in the lessons of the quarter. 

(d) The review climax. — Whatever the plan, there should 
be saved for the closing moment some thought that leads 
straight to Christ and which suggests personal responsi- 
bility in view of the added light of the quarter's lessons. 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 165 

A well-selected hymn and a tender, thoughtful prayer fol- 
lowing will help to focus this result. 

5. Special instruction. The Sunday school of to-day 
must be informed about and must participate in those great 
movements in our own country and in foreign fields which 
are of vital human and Christian interest. While these 
interests may be occasionally touched upon in lesson com- 
ments, it is due these important movements and due the 
school that specific platform instruction shall be given 
upon them as a part of the school's educational plan. 

These subjects should be presented one a month, or one 
in two months, by the superintendent, the classes, or anyone 
best informed upon them from within or without the school. 
Sometimes the subject may be naturally related to a school 
or department lesson or to a special day. If so, so muck 
the better. Following are subjects that should be presented: 

(1) Prohibition. — See Chapter XIX. 

(2) Missions.— See Chapter XVIII. 

(3) Social Service. — See Chapter XX. 

(4) Patriotism. — See Chapter XXI. 

(5) International good will and social justice. — Has the 
Sunday school a vital relation to peoples of other races and 
nations? Should they not know the relationship from a 
Christian standpoint and become aware of America's re- 
sponsibility in the establishment of brotherhood and justice 
everywhere? The material for a program on these lines, 
can be obtained from the Commission on International 
Justice and Good Will, Federal Council of Churches, 
Twenty-second Street and Fourth Avenue, New York City, 
and from denominational sources. 

6. Americanization. What is the duty of the Sunday 
school toward the immigrant and his children? What serv- 
ice can we render in educating them in American and 
Christian ideals? Write to the Department of Missionary 
Education of your denomination as to programs and general 
material. 

7. Good health. The body is the temple for the soul's 



166 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

development. It is the instrument of service. The Sunday 
school has a vital interest in maintaining this bodily mech- 
anism at its best through definite knowledge of its laws and 
through a program that is adequate for its development. 

8. Child welfare. Is it nothing to the Sunday school 
that there are millions of submerged children in America 
for whom no one feels a direct responsibility — children de- 
prived of proper parental care, children of the factories, 
children of the tenements? Should the Sunday schools not 
know that there are four hundred millions of children in 
other lands with little real chance at true life in the home, 
school, and community? Should they not know the facts 
as to the starving or ill-fed and ill-kept children of Ar- 
menia, Europe, or China? 

The facts for a program as to Near East children can be 
obtained from Near East Relief, 151 Fifth Avenue, New 
York City. The Child Welfare Bureau, at 70 Fifth Avenue, 
New York City, has information and exhibits of work in 
this country. The denominational boards and the Federal 
Council of Churches can give general information. 

Bibliography 

Chalk Lessons: or The Blackboard in the Sunday School, 
Beard. 

Object Lessons for Children, Tyndall. 
Training the Junior Citizen, Forsyth. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The relative value of eye and ear teaching. 

2. Welfare work in Sunday-school instruction. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. Suggest a few plans to increase Bible bringing. 

2. Name a few methods of Bible use by the pupil. 

3. What are some helpful uses of the blackboard? 

4. What good reason is there for use of objects in teach- 
ing? 



PLATFORM INSTRUCTION 167 

5. What should be the purpose in a weekly lesson review? 

6. Name five plans or methods of quarterly review. 

7. What should be sought as the climax in review work? 

8. What special platform instruction is desirable in re- 
lation to community, national, and world questions? 



CHAPTER XI 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 

The large part that music plays in the service of the 
Sunday school and the importance of music in the life of 
the young entitle it to the superintendent's special con- 
sideration. 

The Sunday-school songs are projected into the social 
gatherings of the young. At the spiritual crisis of the life 
probably as many young people are influenced to a right de- 
cision by Christian song as by the word of appeal. Luther 
says, "Music is the fairest gift of God." Another says, 
"Music is the child of prayer, the companion of religion." 
And Bevan states, "Singing is one preparation for heaven, 
for John has left us in no doubt of its large place in the 
life of the redeemed." 

The increasing appreciation of the value of music in the 
religious education of the young is shown in the marked 
improvement in recent years in Sunday-school hymnology 
in both England and America and in Sunday-school festivals 
of song participated in by great Sunday-school choirs. 

In the public schools in some places there is an effort 
to eliminate the name of Christ from the school songs. 
This gives increasing need to the emphasis of Christian 
songs in the Sunday school. 

Music in the Sunday school has a threefold value: (a) as 
a factor in the religious education of the young in convey- 
ing Christian truth along lines of easiest impression and 
least resistance; (&) as a means of large attraction to the 
Sunday-school sessions; (c) as inspirational to life decision 
and Christian service. 

"Sweet music, sacred tongue of God." Ole Bull as a boy 
was once reproved by his father for getting up at night 

168 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 16^ 

and playing his violin to the disturbance of the family. 
He replied: "I cannot help it. It speaks to me." To make 
music the voice of God to the souls of our pupils is worthy 
our high endeavor. 

Good music is frequently the making of a Sunday school 
and will give vitality to a service weak in other respects. 
Poor music, half-heartedly sung, will act as a pall and handi- 
cap to a session otherwise strong. To have good music will 
require a steadfast purpose, a good book, and careful or- 
ganization. We shall consider the factors in providing 
good musical results. 

1. General matters. (1) The music committee. — This 
committee can render large service in the selection of song- 
books, the building up of the Sunday-school orchestra, the 
discovery and training of voices for solo and other work, 
the organization of a Sunday-school choir, the management 
of week-night choir and school rehearsals, the arrangement 
of orchestral and school concerts, the supervision of orches- 
tral music, and, where another committee does not cover 
the ground, the arrangement of music for special days. The 
chorister should be a member of this committee. 

(2) The songbook. — This is a delicate subject. The se- 
lection should be in the hands of a wise committee, which 
must keep in view the school needs. The ages to be served 
must be considered. The Primary Department should in 
most schools be eliminated from consideration^ as it is 
amply cared for in the many primary songbooks. In time 
we shall have songbooks prepared for each department, 
which shall include exercises and material applicable only 
to that department's needs. For the present the book must 
be chosen for juniors and adults and the departments be- 
tween. In this must be included a number of songs with 
rhythm, melody, and good harmony. In some schools, where 
there are a good proportion of adults who can take several 
parts, high-grade music can be introduced; and with this 
support, and especially with orchestral help, this class of 
music, which will bring the school into touch with the 



170 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

great composers, will be increasingly appreciated. And 
there are many such compositions by Handel, Mendelssohn, 
Gounod, Rubinstein, Haydn, and others more modern, such 
as Smart, Sullivan, and Dykes, which have melody and ma- 
jestic swing, which are easily within the grasp of the aver- 
age school, and, together with some of our best church 
hymns, should become the life possession of our young 
people. 

The music, however, is but a vehicle for the words. The 
school must be guarded at this point so that the poetry 
shall not simply convey the truth but present it in a form 
that will be worthy of long remembrance. Heaven should 
be less in view in such poetry than a present Christ and a 
militant service. Strong sentiment has its place here 
when headed toward Christian service. There are books 
on the market which cover much of the ground desired, 
such as The Methodist Sunday School Hymnal; Hymns o£ 
Worship and Service (Century Company) ; Hymnal for 
American Youth (Century Company) ; Worship and Song 
(Pilgrim Press); and Gloria (Barnes). 

(3) The selection of hymns. — This should be done by the 
superintendent at home, with the chorister's help, if possi- 
ble, and as early in the week as practicable. Copies of the 
selections should be sent to the pianist, the orchestra leader, 
and the helper who is to arrange the hymn board. Note 
should be made of the hymns and the frequency with which 
they are used. 

The hymns should be selected with reference to the Sun- 
day's lesson theme. There must be "go" in them as well as 
strength. They should express praise, prayer, service, con- 
secration. They should make a general appeal, so that none 
should feel excluded. There must be songs expressing 
action for the aggressive juniors. The old-time hymns 
should have a place, and one new or partly new hymn should 
be attempted each Sunday. 

To leave the choice to the school is to produce confusion 
and spoil any harmonious plan. But the superintendent 






SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 171 

will be regardful of the school's taste. With the choicest Of 
the gospel songs, new and old, should go such hymns as 
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," "The Son of God Goes 
Forth to War," "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go," and 
"We May Not Climb the Heavenly Steeps." The hymns 
learned in the supplemental work should be sung occasion- 
ally. A school hymn composed for the school, especially 
one expressing the school motto, should have a place in the 
program occasionally. Or a hymn selected by the school 
by vote as its school hymn will serve. If there are class 
hymns chosen from the songbook these may be sung on 
special Sundays or woven occasionally into the service. 
New, good songs not in the book may be printed, with con- 
sent of the publishers, added to the school selections, and 
inserted in the schoolbook. 

If the lessons are on the life of Christ, the story of the 
Master in song may be made very effective on some Sun- 
day. The service may include "O Little Town of Bethle- 
hem," "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say," "Break Thou the 
Bread of Life," "There Were Ninety and Nine." and "There 
Is a Green Hill Far Away." 

If we are to reveal the inner meaning of the words, there 
is need of careful, constructive work in the selection of 
hymns. Professor H. Augustine Smith, in an article in a 
current periodical, well says: 

How are boys and girls to realize there is high privilege 
in singing when the superintendents and choristers use 
hymns as they would burlap or packing material — capital 
padding for the parts of an ill-arranged service of worship? 
Every hymn has its own peculiar message. Seek it. Study 
the text absolutely apart from the music. Hold the words 
up to the light; look through them and between them and 
behind them. Look for the nouns in "O Love That Wilt Not 
Let Me Go," or for the verbs in "Christian, Dost Thou See 
Them?" or the adjectives in "How Beautiful for Spacious 
Skies." 

2. Practical suggestions. (1) The Sunday-school or- 
chestra. — By all means have an orchestra to strengthen 



172 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

your singing, attract the school, hold your seniors, and 
utilize your young people. Start it with one instrument, 
a cornet or violin or cello, or all three. As you can, add 
clarinet, trombone, bass viol, and other instruments to fill 
in the parts. If no one in the school plays, pay for a violin, 
if necessary, or select a pupil anji pay for his tuition, with 
the understanding that his service shall be given to the 
school free. If the orchestra grows, such expenditure may 
be returned from an orchestra-concert fund. The orchestra 
can be added to frequently through advertisement for play- 
ers and by conference with music teachers. One school 
added fifteen to its orchestra during a new membership 
contest by giving additional credits if the new members had 
orchestral ability. Select the best leader available and re- 
quire weekly rehearsals. Do not start with difficult pieces. 
The ordinary hymns properly orchestrated will serve. 1 An 
occasional solo by violin, cornet, or other instrument may 
be helpful where the selection is in keeping. 

Plan for occasional orchestral concerts with school or 
other talent. These will be an incentive for regular at- 
tendance at rehearsals and will supply a music fund. Sev- 
eral points should be guarded: (a) Care should be taken 
that the orchestra does not become so heavy as to smother 
the voices. (&) The members of the orchestra should be 
assigned to classes or taught as an orchestra Bible class, 
(c) The orchestra leader should be acquainted with the 
character of each Sunday's service, so that he can adapt the 
music to the day. A very different kind of music would be 
needed for Decision Day than for a patriotic Sunday. 

The Sunday-school band is coming somewhat into vogue 
as a part of the orchestra or as a substitute for it. The 



1 The following compositions are suggested as having been used by- 
Sunday-school orchestras with success: "Coronation March" (Tannhaiiser) : 
"Swedish Melody," arranged by J. Hiller ; "How Great, O Lord," Sir Julius 
Benedict; "Evening Hymns," C. T. Steele; "Choral Prelude," D. W. Hyde; 
"Prayer from 'Nachtlager von Grenada,'" arranged by J. Low; "Medi- 
tation," C. T. Steele; "Offertoire in G," J. L. Bottman. The Methodist 
Sunday School Hymnal is issued in an orchestral edition. E. J. Root & 
Sons (Chicago) publish Root's Church Orchestra and Root's Gems of 
Sacred Melody for the use of orchestras. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 173 

First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School of Buffalo, New 
York, has a boys' band of twenty-four pieces. The boys 
have suits and are under frequent engagement for work, 
outside the school. They meet once a week for rehearsal. 
They use the Premier and Surprise Sextet Band Book (pub- 
lished by J. W. Pepper & Son) and Best of All Band 
Book (Lyon & Healy). In a Pennsylvania Sunday 
school a band of twenty was organized, each class can- 
vassing its members for players. The church people aided 
in purchasing instruments. There were officers, a press 
agent, and a concert which paid for the suits. In two years 
the band gave twenty public exhibitions, figured in six 
parades, and furnished regular and special Sunday-school 
music. 

(2) The chorister. — The superintendent may have the 
voice, snap, and ability to take this part. If not, the best 
man or woman should be chosen — one with whom the 
superintendent can work harmoniously, one who has the 
respect of the school, a love for Christ and for music, and 
who will not turn the service into a singing school. Fre- 
quently women make the best precentors. If a teacher of 
music, so much the better. A good chorister is half the 
making of good singing. He may not sing well himself, 
but he can have the ability to get others to sing and a, 
cheery way about him that gets all to join in. It will be 
helpful if the superintendent and leader can meet for fifteen 
minutes each week to select songs in harmony with the 
theme of the service and plan for other musical features 
of the program. The leader may be trained in the choris- 
ter's section of the local Sunday-school union. The Cuya- 
hoga County Sunday School Association has such a choris- 
ister's course, with four periods on "Essential Elements in a 
Service of Worship," "The Place of Music in Sunday-School 
Worship," "Graded Hymns for the Sunday School," and "A 
Practical Study of a Service of Worship." 

(3) The pianist. — This may be the organist. But who- 
ever it is, he or she is a vital factor in the musical prob- 



174 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

lem of the various departments of the modern Sunday 
school. . The pianist can be a drag or a lift to the. whole 
program. Blessed is the superintendent that has the right 
one. He should not wait long upon his voiced expression 
of appreciation, especially if the musician is always on 
time, submerges his personality, and anticipates his need. 
But if this is not your pianist, pray for grace and make the 
best of your limitations. And patience, tact, and encour- 
agement may bring about marked improvement. Magnify 
the office. Did you ever stop publicly to thank the pianist 
for some specially good rendering of a piece? A sugges- 
tion to make the melody and rhythm marked and to keep 
abreast or a little ahead of the school may produce results. 
And it may not be necessary for the pianist in his intro- 
duction to play the verse and chorus through, especially 
where the piece is well known. A few bars may be all that 
is required. The interlude will keep in view the necessity 
of starting well on the key. If a school has not an orches- 
tra, the opening prelude, the intermission interlude, and the 
music of the closing prayer-song following the benediction 
will fall to the organist or pianist to play alone. The pian- 
ist should be furnished with copy of the program so that 
he can fit the music instantly into the exercises without 
the embarrassing delay of looking up the piece. The music 
of the school's order of service should be arranged in port- 
folio form, so that it will not be necessary to turn over book 
pages. A good mutual understanding between the superin- 
tendent and the pianist should be earnestly cultivated. The 
careful tuning of organ or piano is not the least essential. 
(4) The Sunday-school choir. — A Sunday-school choir has 
a distinct place in the activities of the school in interesting 
the young people, helping in new songs, and giving variety 
to the service by chants, special songs, processionals, and 
recessionals. To organize it will require a leader, a plan, 
and push. There are always young people in every school 
who can sing well and who are eager for something of this 
sort. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 175 

A Sunday-school choir may be organized in a variety of 
ways. The nucleus can be formed as the result of a general 
invitation, the ages being fixed in the invitation. A repre- 
sentative in each class of right age may be appointed to 
work up membership. Or the chorister can select the best 
voices as he knows or discovers them and personally invite 
them for the choir. A glee club may be formed which will 
include in its singing other than Sunday-school music but 
with the agreement that the club will take a regular part 
in the Sunday-school session. A club name, motto, colors, 
and song will promote organization spirit. Stories of com- 
posers and compositions and music and musical values may 
be given special study in such a club or in the choir. 

A Sunday-school chorus class may be formed of those 
who will agree to sing, organized as other classes, with the 
teacher, the chorister, or one who understands music. If 
there is a good leader, a boy choir can be organized in some 
schools. In the country the singers may remain after the 
school for fifteen minutes' rehearsal and for the selection 
of songs for the following Sunday. They should be given 
the opportunity of a special song in the school service. A 
week-evening rehearsal will be helpful and will promote 
the social life of the young people. The Sunday-school choir 
should be given some part in the morning church service. 
This choir may be vested. One pastor used such a choir 
once a month in singing certain songs as a part of a song 
sermon. In the Bethany Church of Philadelphia there are 
four large choirs from the Sunday school which take part 
in turn. An entertainment of the choir should be planned 
for, possibly in conjunction with the school orchestra. Scrip- 
tural or other cantatas may be rendered. The proceeds may 
be used for new music. 

Care should be taken that the choir singing in the school 
shall be subordinated to the general school singing, an as- 
sistant to such singing, and not a substitute for it in any 
way that will discourage the best results. 

(5) Learning new music. — The strain of introducing new 



176 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

music frequently wears on both superintendent and school. 
How can this necessity be made a pleasure and the school 
time conserved? Some schools use for this the ten or fif- 
teen minutes before or after the session, those present gath- 
ering about the organ at the front. Or a week-evening 
special rehearsal of the school is suggested, with a few in- 
teresting items, social, or literary program in addition to 
the singing. A printed invitation in attractive form to such 
a gathering will give it special emphasis. An evening in 
the fall of the year is preferable. The rehearsal should in- 
clude pieces fitting for opening and closing, chants, and re- 
sponses. 

A song that does not go well after genuine trial should 
not be forced. In taking up a new song in the session it is 
well to have the words first read once or twice to grasp the 
pronunciation and meaning. Then the melody may be 
played several times and with the violin, if one is obtain- 
able. Then have all sing with full confidence. Or the choir 
or some class that had given it previous rehearsal may sing 
one verse, and the school the next, and so alternately, all 
coming in on the last verse. The song may be sung as a 
special piece in the fore part of the session by the choir 
or by a particular group and taken up by the school sub- 
sequently. Or it may be sung as a solo first. The church 
choir may be induced to stay over for fifteen minutes once a 
month to assist in new songs. 

One new song taken up each Sunday will be enough for 
the ordinary school. New songs not in the book may, with 
the publisher's consent, be stenciled on muslin or on hymn 
banners, and placed in view of all for rehearsal; or they 
may be typewritten and used in stereopticon slides. Do 
not practice new music during the opening devotional 
service. 

(6) Hymns and their authors. — Our interest in a song is 
greatly enhanced if we know the author. There is an in- 
teresting story attached to nearly every hymn that has 
won its way to the human heart. Our pupils should know 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 177 

these stories. The words will mean more to them and the 
singing will be heartier. The great song writers — Mendels- 
sohn, Schubert, and others — will become the friends of the 
school as the story of their struggles and successes is told. 
The superintendent or chorister can, before the singing of 
the hymn, tell its story, or some member of the choir or 
school can be asked to do it. Material may be found in 
Story of the Hymns and Tunes, by H. Butterworth and T. 
Brown. The Hymnal for American Youth, by Professor H. 
Augustine Smith (Century Company), has interesting facts 
as to dates of hymns, authors, etc. Especially are these im- 
pressive hymns if sung, after the story is told, as solos by 
the singers who have good voices and are in sympathy with 
the sentiment of the songs. Play up great men. John Hay 
and McKinley wrote hymns. Former President Wilson was 
one of the editors of a famous hymnbook. Whittier, Bryant, 
Holmes, Longfellow, Lowell — all were hymn writers. Many 
blind, deaf, and invalids wrote religious hymns and music, 
such as Milton, Beethoven, Havergal, Crosby, Henry Smart, 
and Matheson. 

Fanny Crosby's hymns might be used on a special song 
Sunday in connection with the story of her life. 

(7) How to get all to sing. — How do the great leaders of 
song manage it? By seeing first that the music or the words 
are in the hands of all. If a new song, it is tried first by 
the piano, then by a soloist or quartet, then by all. Then 
the men sing, then the women, now one section or depart- 
ment under sectional or departmental song leaders, now an- 
other, in pleasant rivalry, until the man who lost his voice 
forty years ago is tuning it afresh for the eternal choir, 
and the spirit of the song has swept every one along. And 
the leader does not scold. He straightens up the "bruised 
reeds" by his kindly encouragement. And he selects pieces 
the melody and words of which cling to the memory per- 
force. First, then, see that everyone has a book, not the 
words only of a song. This will often make the difference 
between a half-hearted and a full response. Then, the super- 



178 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

intendent, even if he cannot sing a note, should keep his 
mouth moving for the sake of example. Frequently read 
the words of a verse or a song before singing. Sometimes 
the words will need explanation to make them count for 
anything. "Here I'll raise my Ebenezer." What is an 
Ebenezer? What is a "mercy seat"? 

The "stay" in some pieces is as important for proper ex- 
pression of words and music as is the "go" in other pieces. 
Avoid pieces pitched too high or too low, for the song may 
get suspended in the sky or be buried in the pit. The dan- 
ger to the voice must be considered as well as the result in 
song. Shouting is not singing; it strains the voice. Tone 
quality rather than noise should be the goal. See that 
there is good air. Then encourage the pupils to sit straight 
and breathe deeply, so that the tones will be produced from 
the chest, and not the throat. Have the hymn numbers on 
the hymn board or blackboard and well in sight. Humming 
and whistling for variety is viewed with mixed favor. At 
the best it seems doubtful. Ascertain the school's favorites 
by distributing slips for song numbers for future use. The 
result may be surprising to the superintendent but will be 
suggestive in selecting songs that go. Give the boys a 
chance in the selection. 

In creating interest use parts of the school against others 
— boys against girls, sometimes a class, or the teachers, the 
women, or the men, the women and girls singing the verse, 
and the men and boys on the chorus, or reverse, or all join- 
ing in the chorus. Or a department may sing a verse, and 
all the chorus. There are some songs that lend themselves 
to antiphonal singing-. An orchestra and .a piano are, of 
course, helpful accessions in good singing. Much will de- 
pend, however, on the personality of the leader and his 
steady persistence at the task until all shall seek to reach 
with him the school goal. Special class and school rehear- 
sals will be valuable, and the teachers' cooperation will 
count for much, both on Sunday and in making much of 
Sunday-school songs at class gatherings. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 179 

The use of illustrated hymns on slides with the stereopti- 
con is coming into use as a way of enlisting interest and 
deepening the impression. Without the slide there will be 
great gain if the leader can picture the meaning of the verse 
to be sung or ask a swift question that will let the pupil 
give the picture in the song. For instance, "Nearer, My 
God, to Thee" suggests pictures on the life of Jacob. A 
medley of old hymns, a verse of each following a chord, 
will arouse interest. 

It is important to interpret a hymn aright in the speed 
with which it is sung. "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy" 
and "In the Cross of Christ I Glory" are usually sung too 
fast. "Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Rejoice, Ye Pure in 
Heart," and "Onward, Christian Soldiers" are invariably 
sung too slow. Expression, variety, the play of light and 
shade, fast and slow, loud and soft, all are essential to good 
singing. 

(8) Community chorus work. — In recent years there has 
been a distinct development of Sunday-school chorus work 
in the form of the convention chorus, competitive Sunday- 
school junior choirs, great festival choruses, or what is 
known as the community chorus, in which the Sunday- 
school members take part with other community elements. 

(a) Junior Sunday-school choirs. — These may be for the 
Junior Department alone or may be divided into three 
groups — a choir of boys eight to twelve, the girls from eight 
to twelve, and the girls from thirteen to sixteen or even 
older. 

(&) Convention choruses. — These are usually made up of 
Sunday-school and church members of the entertaining city 
and are led by a local chorus leader or, more probably, by 
the convention chorus leader. Where that leader is a man 
well abreast of the technique of his profession, the conven- 
tion, with its institute for Sunday-school choristers, be- 
comes of great value as a training school for all related to 
the music problem in the local school. Where competent 
leaders are in charge of the convention music, the Sunday 



180 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

school can well afford to pay the expenses of its choristers 
to attend the convention. Particularly is this true when 
the features of pageantry and music are intimately com- 
bined, as at the World's Sunday School Convention in Tokyo 
in 1920. The impressions of that convention, in which a 
chorus of eight hundred Japanese and missionaries sang 
those great productions "Unfold, Ye Portals Everlasting/' 
"Send Out Thy Light," "The Largo," and "The Hallelujah 
Chorus," will not soon be forgotten by those present. When 
in the four pageants the music of such hymns as "Just as 
I Am, Without One Plea" and "In the Cross of Christ I 
Glory" was woven into the scenes depicting the progress 
of the Sunday school and of Christianity, the effect was 
remarkable. 

(c) Competitive Sunday-school singing. — This takes the 
form of a convocation of the Sunday schools of a locality 
in some large building under their respective song leaders. 
Judges are selected, and the decisions made upon the basis 
of accepted points. In one such gathering eight schools 
were involved. They sang in competition one Sunday-school 
song selected by the committee and one of their own choos- 
ing. The successful school was awarded a banner, to be 
theirs if maintained in three successive contests. 

In another locality in order to stimulate the learning of 
new music a contest was arranged between the schools. 
Ten new songs were in the competition, and thirty days, or 
four Sundays, were allowed for rehearsals. The result was 
so even that decision was very difficult. 

(d) Sunday-school song festivals. — These have been pro- 
moted for years in England, the chorus reaching as high as 
five thousand voices in a great festival in the Crystal Palace 
of London. The Chicago annual Sunday-school music fes- 
tival has three thousand voices; and in Brooklyn, Wash- 
ington, Cleveland, and other cities the chorus has num- 
bered as many as two thousand five hundred: The pro- 
ductions are of high quality, and the results in improvement 
of singing in the individual schools are marked. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL MUSIC 181 

(e) Community choruses. — The organization and leader- 
ship of community-music activities have made marked prog- 
ress in the last ten years. In these plans the church, the 
Sunday school, the public school, and other community 
units have united for patriotic singing, for the production 
of standard oratorios and for carol singing in the com- 
munity square or park on Christmas Eve. Information con- 
cerning the organization and direction of music in com- 
munities, industries, neighborhood, and rural districts can 
be found in a pioneer book on these lines: Music for 
Everybody, by Marshall Bartholomew and Robert Lawrence 
(The Abingdon Press). 

Bibliography 

Famous Hymns of the World, Sutherland. 

Book of Worship of the Church School, Hartshorne. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The paid orchestra in the Sunday school. 

2. Cooperative community music. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What is the value of music in the Sunday school? 

2. What class of songs should be encouraged in Sunday- 
school music? 

3. How much emphasis should be placed upon the char- 
acter of the words? 

4. What should the superintendent keep in view in the 
selection of his music? 

5. What should be the object in selection of the closing 
hymn? 

6. How can a Sunday-school choir be helpful? 

7. Suggest some plans of getting all to sing. 

8. How can the Sunday school be helped by community 
chorus competitions? 

9. How can it help in improving community musical 
ideals? 



CHAPTER XII 
THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 

The teacher is the compelling force in Sunday-school 
work. The superintendent may "general" the campaign, but 
it is the teacher who fights the battle, coming out of the 
hand-to-hand conflict many a Sunday disheartened, baffled, 
often with aching head and aching heart. The teacher 
should receive high honor in the day of victory. 

The superintendent has no more important work than the 
selection and training of his teachers. On the quality of 
their work his campaign succeeds or fails. The writer is 
well aware of the futility of expecting impossible ideals in 
a teacher. He knows that with many superintendents and 
in many places it is not a question of selection but of 
getting anybody to do the work. But he is sure that, with 
God's help and with patience and plan, many of the prob- 
lems connected with building in and building up teachers 
in the work will be solved and excellent results achieved. 

The plan of the paid teaching force has its defenders, 
and this plan is employed in several New York schools. 
Where a teacher is making that a life employment, as may 
be the case with some special workers and in certain mis- 
sion districts, there is no good argument against the plan; 
but for best results and of necessity we must chiefly depend 
on volunteer teachers. 

1. Recruiting a teaching force. (1) Essential quali- 
ties in a teacher. — A few basic qualities must be looked for 
in a teacher: 

(a) Christian character. — It takes character to make 
character. Former Governor Hughes said to a gathering 
of Sunday-school workers, "It is what the boy and girl feel 
exists in the manhood of the teacher that makes an im- 

182 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 183 

pression upon the life." Every teacher may be a guidepost 
pointing to Christ. The vital question of the teacher's 
example should be settled upon this basis. The Christian 
character of a teacher may not be matured, but in every 
case Christ should be its life motive. 

(b) Love for the pupil. — The teacher must be a friend 
if he would be a helper to the pupil's life. He must enter 
into the pupil's life interests, troubles, temptations, in a 
very real way. One cannot do this without a real love for 
children and young people. 

(c) Love for the Book. — The more knowledge of it the 
better, but love for it must be there. 

These three qualities, then, we should look for: love for 
Christ, for the pupil, for the Book; and then set ourselves 
to the task of cultivating these to full strength. Add to 
these every other good quality we can, of education, of per- 
sonality, and of general fitness. 

(2) Enlisting teachers. — Ralph Wells, one of the great 
Sunday-school leaders of the recent past, was asked how 
to get Sunday-school teachers. He replied, "Train them." 
And right well did he succeed over a long and successful 
Sunday-school career by this means. 

The field for new teachers is the training class, the Bible 
classes, the Home Department, new and old members of the 
church, and day-school teachers. 

The superintendent should have several lists, one com- 
posed of those who are ready, one for near prospective teach- 
ers, and another for those remote. From time to time he 
should place new names on these several lists and recruit 
from them. He should not go about the business in a spirit 
of pessimism. A pastor in a local paper berated the absent 
teachers for their lack of interest and in the next paragraph 
made an appeal for new teachers. He had discounted his 
proposition. People avoid sinking ships. A quiet personal 
word with those teachers in turn would have produced dif- 
ferent results. Let people feel that the Sunday school is 
the greatest institution in the world, exalt the privileges 



184 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

of the teacher in the school, speak of the good times you 
have. An occasional public appeal in the spirit of opti- 
mism is all right, but the quiet hunt for teachers is more 
effective than frantic appeals and scoldings from pulpit or 
platform. 

The following methods have been found helpful: 
(a) Start young people at fifteen or sixteen in teacher- 
training classes. They are willing to teach if they think 
they know how. Your own young people may be made your 
best and most faithful teachers. 

(ft) Start young people in the Primary or Junior Depart- 
ment doing assistant or supplemental work until accus- 
tomed to service. 

(c) Get from Bible classes, of those over sixteen years of 
age, lists of young people best fitted. See these persons 
individually and win their consent for present or later 
service. Enlist them in training courses. 

(d) Go carefully over the church list with the pastor 
and send a compelling letter to the names selected, sug- 
gesting regular or occasional service, inclosing a card or 
blank for reply. This call to service suggests several ways 
in which cooperation may be given, such as a regular 
teacher, a substitute teacher, a Home Department visitor. 
Endeavor to recruit day-school teachers. 

(c) Do not scare people by asking them at the beginning 
to take a class permanently. Ask them to do so for a Sun- 
day or for once a month. Encourage them and lead them 
along until they have some confidence. 

(/) If necessary suggest to a teacherless class that the 
members choose a teacher, with the consent of pastor and 
superintendent, and then call upon that person in a body, 
presenting their request. 

(g) Suggest to those who will teach regularly that their 
service is for one year. This will give opportunity for test- 
ing their ability in special classes and will enable a change 
at the end of the year if necessary without friction or rup- 
ture. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 185 

(70 Do not take "no" for an answer from those who 
should teach. Tell them it is Christ's work and suggest, 
"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." A letter from the 
superintendent during the week, inclosing some helpful 
leaflet, may produce decision. 

(3) Substitute teachers. — This list should be made up of 
those who are prepared to serve regularly or at stated times. 
They should be given the opportunity to select their dates 
and departments, and to express their preference for either 
boys or girls. 

The substitute teachers may be elected and recognized as 
a part of the teaching force, their names being printed with 
the school list. They should be invited to all teachers' 
functions. In some schools where the substitute list is 
printed teachers arrange with those on such a list for their 
own substitutes. 

An assistant teacher is sometimes appointed for each 
class, which solves the question for that class. 

Some Bible classes agree to furnish one or two substi- 
tutes for each Sunday, a member not to be called upon 
oftener than once a month. Appoint in each young people's 
and adult Bible class a "scout" to furnish one or more 
names of probable teachers and to win their consent for 
once a month service. 

An advance-lesson class is sometimes used for substitute 
purposes, the lesson being studied by the class a week in 
advance. 

Teachers should be urged to notify the superintendent or 
other designated officer of absence on an absence card fur- 
nished to all teachers for their use or to provide a substi- 
tute. Many do not or cannot do this, and at the last mo- 
ment arrangements have to be made to fill the vacancy, this 
making it necessary to provide in advance some substitutes 
who may or may not be called upon. 

The superintendent should take special pains to thank 
substitutes for their service. Out of the substitute list will 
come in time many regular teachers. 



186 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

The graded lessons make it necessary for every teacher 
to arrange definitely for a substitute because of the variety 
of the lessons or to have department substitutes prepared 
for each graded lesson taught in the department. 

The substitute is entitled to notification of the date and 
department of service. They should be in readiness at a 
given point or should report direct to the proper depart- 
ment officer. 

(4) The teacher appointed and installed. — The new 
teacher should be installed at a public service. The in- 
stallation may include any officers of the school as well. 
The presentation of a formal commission of service, duly 
signed by pastor or superintendent, will add dignity to the 
service and to the worker's office. Forms of installation for 
officers and teachers may be found in The Methodist Sunday 
School Hymnal. The Pilgrim Congregational Sunday 
School, of Dorchester, Massachusetts; the Marion Law- 
rance Sunday School of Toledo, Ohio; and the First Method- 
ist Episcopal Sunday School of Los Angeles have installa- 
tion forms. The installation service should include an ad- 
dress by the pastor and an officers , and teachers' covenant, 
or a charge to the teachers of each department (where the 
installation is an annual affair, covering all teachers old and 
new), and a response. In the North Avenue Presbyterian 
Sunday School of Atlanta, Georgia, the covenant taken by 
the teachers and, indeed, signed by them, reads: 

In consideration of the high calling of a teacher in the 
Sunday school I make the following covenant in entering 
upon my work: I will do my work to the best of my abil- 
ity. I will try to improve it constantly. I will attend regu- 
larly and promptly the sessions of the school and of the 
workers' study club. The supreme aim of my teaching is 
to lead the pupils to know my Lord and Saviour; and to 
this end I consecrate my talents, depending on him for 
strength and wisdom. 

(5) The teacher welcomed. — Following election the 
teacher should receive a letter signed by the superintendent 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 187 

and secretary, welcoming him to the fellowship of service, 
with full instructions as to meetings, rules, marking sys- 
tem, the school's objectives, and especially its spiritual goal, 
and inviting to earnest cooperation. Some schools issue 
this in the form of a manual covering suggestions as to 
class management, timeliness, prayer, preparation, and 
records. This can be done in typewritten form to save ex- 
pense. It is used also for substitute teachers. A list of the 
pupils and their addresses should be furnished. 

2. The superintendent's relations to his teachers. 
(1) Attaching and helping the teacher. — As suggested be- 
fore, the teachers are the superintendent's file leaders. He 
must work upon the pupils through them. He must there- 
fore enter into their lives, draw them to himself and to 
Christ by every possible means, and help them to become 
better workmen. This he may do in a multitude of ways. 

(a) He may recognize the teacher's birthday by a per- 
sonal letter, which shall include a word of hearty apprecia- 
tion of the teacher's service and may be accompanied by 
some helpful book or booklet. 

(&) A birthday prayer list of the teachers may be printed 
and corrected annually, the birthdays arranged by months, 
and the teachers requested to pray for each other and 
especially for the officers as their birthdays occur. This 
kindly remembrance in prayer and congratulation is a 
stimulus that inspires to high faithfulness. 

(c) Leaflets and clippings or reprints bearing on the 
teacher's work and spiritual life may be distributed or per- 
sonally inclosed as they may fit the case, such leaflets as 
"My Class for Jesus," "Little Parishes of Eight," "How to 
Prepare a Lesson for Teaching." This investment pays big 
dividends. 

(d) Supply best possible teaching helps for the teachers, 
the denominational teachers' journal, of course, and another 
if possible. Sometimes suggest a good periodical, such as 
The Church School, to subscribe for. 

(e) Sit down with a new or troubled teacher and sug- 



188 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

gest plans of lesson presentation and of getting the pupils 
at work with manual or geography work. See in the next 
chapter "Plans for the Lesson Period" and the manual-work 
section of Chapter VIII. 

(/) Secure a small teacher's library and see that someone 
is appointed to supply lists of books and to keep the books 
in circulation among the teachers and officers. Helpful 
books in the public library may be mentioned. 

(g) Gather up items of encouragement concerning the 
teachers' work from parents and pupils, and write or tell 
these to the teachers. Such a word gives wings to the 
teachers in their service. Home items that may give the 
teacher a new understanding of the pupil will be appreciated 
by the teacher. 

(h) The sick teacher visited or inquired about, the flow- 
ers sent, the teacher helped by the superintendent to a 
business position, are among the ministrations that cement 
the personal relationship between superintendent and 
teacher. 

(i) Encourage by suggesting examples of great men who 
have been helped by the faithfulness of a Sunday-school 
teacher. 

0) Strengthen the personal bond with the teacher by 
sending a souvenir postal at Easter, New Year's Day, or 
when traveling. 

(7c) Suggest attendance and, in some instances, pay the 
expense of attendance of teachers at any local union train- 
ing class, a summer training school, or to the institute of 
the local school, as suggested in Chapter XIII. 

See that the assistant superintendent or some experienced 
teacher is given special oversight of a new or weak teacher, 
to encourage by practical help until the teacher is well 
started in effective work. 

Above all, make the teachers feel that the superintendent 
stands back of them in their work, has their success and 
welfare constantly upon his heart, and appreciates their 
faithful service. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 189 

(2) The teacher's social life. — This should be adequately 
planned for through the social committee of the school. It 
may include: 

(a) A monthly supper at homes or at the school on the 
lines of a workers' conference, to be followed by discussion 
of topics of class or school interest previously assigned to 
individuals or taken up in round-table form. 

(&) The department teachers' supper or social, where 
games and program, with refreshments, may be enjoyed and 
a few topics of department interest considered informally. 
These socials may be spread over the year, say, the pri- 
mary children at Eastertime, the juniors in May, the inter- 
mediates at a patriotic affair, etc. 

(c) The annual social or banquet, which should be an 
important affair, to be held either at the superintendent's 
home or at the school. This may be made as elaborate as 
desired, extending to decorations in school colors, printed 
programs, toasts on Sunday-school topics, and one or two 
special after-dinner addresses. 

Other opportunities of acquaintance and fellowship will 
be found in the summer outing of teachers and at the semi- 
social business and lesson-study gatherings. 

The cohesion of the teaching force makes for power. 
These gatherings promote such a result if their tone is 
kept purposely informal. 

(3) The teacher's spiritual life. — How can the superin- 
tendent aid this? By his daily prayer for his teachers; by 
a teachers' prayer league, in which they engage to pray 
daily for the class, for the other workers and school mem- 
bers, and for a larger impowerment for personal service; 
through the teachers' prayer gathering just prior to the 
session; through the monthly prayer gatherings of teachers 
after school or at some convenient time, especially to pray 
for the spiritual preparation and vision and to discuss the 
spiritual work of the school; through distribution to the 
teacher of helpful leaflets, clippings, and books on spiritual 
equipment; and, last but not least, by the superintendent's 



190 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

own vision and the atmosphere and spirit of his own life. 
"Is that Jesus over there?" was asked the teacher by a 
child in the Beginners' Department concerning one of the 
school superintendents whose glowing face showed that he 
talked much with God. 

(4) Winning the cooperation of teachers. — Many a 
teacher, busy week-day and Sunday with his own problems, 
loses sight of the necessity of attention to details that are 
of first importance to the superintendent and in school re- 
sults. It has been found very helpful for the superintendent 
to distribute circular letters to his teachers bearing on such 
points as prompt attendance, class facing the desk, the 
teachers' meeting, notification as to absence, visitation of 
homes of absentees, singing heartily, use of the Bible, main- 
tenance of order, and cooperation on the part of the pupils 
in the service of worship. 

Invite teachers to a full and frank conference, giving one 
half of the hour to those problems of the teacher which 
can be helped by the superintendent, and the other half hour 
to those problems of the superintendent which can be solved 
by the teachers' aid. 

After the summer vacation invite officers and teachers to 
a "council fire," where the summer's experience can be told, 
and suggestions gleaned which may stimulate to a larger 
service on the part of all. 

Encourage teachers to frank criticism and helpful sug- 
gestion through a "question box" or otherwise. Make 
acknowledgment of those ideas which are especially helpful 
and pertinent. 

(5) Teachers who are problems. — (a) The resigning 
teacher. — You know him. If his case has become chronic, 
have someone in readiness and shock him by accepting his 
resignation. Doubtless he will then decline to resign, and 
the trouble will be effectually cured. 

(b) The discouraged teacher. — Suggest a class social at 
his or her home, serving gingerbread, apples, and nuts, and 
playing games, without talking religion on that special oc- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 191 

casion. Or perhaps it is a class cooperative scheme that is 
needed to get all happily at work in the class. .Or the "key" 
boy needs to be set at work to do something with pencil and 
paper which will win him over. One such discouraged 
teacher in the writer's school, who twice felt that he must 
resign, held on and saw three of his seventeen-year-old boys 
come to Christ. That man is now a successful Sunday- 
school superintendent. 

(c) The irregular teacher. — The counterpart is the dwin- 
dling class. It is this teacher who makes the superinten- 
dent's hair grow gray before its time. In some cases ir- 
regularity occurs through thoughtlessness as to the conse- 
quences upon pupils and school. It may be cured by the 
superintendent if taken hold of promptly. An immediate 
visit or letter asking if the teacher is ill and explaining how 
the class and superintendent missed the teacher, and that 
the class does not like substitutes will frequently remedy 
things. The superintendent may suggest a call upon the 
teacher by the class, or that the class write her in turn on 
successive days of the week. Milford W. Foshay tells of a 
discouraged superintendent who appeared at the teachers' 
meeting with six wooden dolls. He explained that some 
of the teachers, from their absence without notification, 
evidently expected that he could manufacture teachers for 
the occasion. He had grown desperate and had finally manu- 
factured the dolls, which he proposed to place in the chairs 
of absent teachers the next Sunday as the best he could do. 
As the result of this object lesson the difficulty was cured. 
Sometimes resolutions by the teachers will bring the mat- 
ter officially before the offending teachers. The superinten- 
dent should be given full authority to fill the place of any 
teacher absenting himself a certain number of Sundays 
without excuse. The best plan, when the case is such that 
the class is suffering, is to place the teacher upon the re- 
serve or substitute list, fill the vacancy, and advise the 
teacher accordingly. The class must have first considera- 
tion. Sometimes the signing by all teachers of a pledge or 



192 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

covenant may reach the offender. This may include (1) 
never to be absent unless a substitute is arranged for, or 
the superintendent notified; (2) to read one book yearly 
on the work of the teacher; (3) to spend ten minutes daily 
in prayer, that prayer to include the class, the school, and 
the Kingdom. 

(d) The poor teacher. — This may be the superintendent's 
fault. He has made a misjudgment. Sometimes the super- 
intendent can improve the teacher by a good talk, by sug- 
gestions as to method, by placing the right book in his 
hand. It may be a case of misfit in that particular class, 
or that the class is too large, or a misplacing of the class, or 
such a week-day pressure that there is no time for study. 
But if the case does not yield to treatment, and the teacher 
has absolutely no grip, suggest a change to a Bible class 
or to some place of service other than as a teacher. One 
superintendent helped his knowledge of such teachers by a 
questionnaire asking the teachers' plan and method on a 
number of subjects covering records, absentees, lesson ob- 
jectives, lesson methods (whether lecture, discussion, 
question and answers, or recitation), assignment of work 
to pupils, manual work, prayer in class, and activities of 
the class. 

(e) The insubordinate teacher. — That is a case for pa- 
tient, kindly explanation and conference. If the teacher 
is approached in this spirit, rarely will it be necessary to 
go to extremes in such a case. The writer has had only one 
such case in twenty-five years. It was cured by a call of 
the superintendent. That teacher is now an earnest friend. 

(/) The teacher with a hobby. — Broaden the viewpoint by 
suggesting helpful books and by a tactful talk, not running 
down the hobby but furnishing some new objectives. 

{g) The slighted teacher. — You have had such. When 
you discover the case heal it with a word of explanation 
before the breach widens. A large nature can afford to 
conciliate even where there was no intention of overlook- 
ing or hurting. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 193 

(h) The late teacher. — A kindly, tactful talk suggesting 
the great help early attendance would be to you and to the 
class will help in most cases. 

(i) The flippant teacher. — Cure this fault by seeing that 
the teacher is present at a workers' conference in which the 
discussion subject is "How to encourage my pupils to be 
reverent." Have a personal talk with the teacher over 
the Christian decision of each member of the class and 
then let the teacher and superintendent pray for greater 
earnestness in the work of soul winning. 

(6) Testing the teacher's work. — The class work may be 
tested by the review questions, the written review work, 
interest during the lesson, the superintendent himself sub- 
stituting in the class, the teacher's preparation for the 
workers' conference, or the questionnaire suggested on page 
192. 

The monthly teacher's report of class conditions, home 
calls, conversions, and other facts will, in addition to his 
own observation, enable the superintendent to keep reason- 
ably informed. 

3. Honoring the school's helpers. (1) Honorary 
workers' list. — Recognition of long service in the school 
should be made by suitable certificate and by enrollment 
on an honor roll. This will be prized by teachers and is 
an encouragement to faithful service. 

(2) A veterans' class. — One school had a "veterans' class," 
consisting of former teachers who for different reasons were 
out of active service. The social life of the class was main- 
tained at a fine point. The class became a help to the 
superintendent, who promoted to it some of the maimed, the 
halt, and the blind of his teaching staff. 

(3) "In memoriam." — The memory of teachers who have 
graduated to the eternal service should be treasured in an 
"in memoriam" list, which should be kept displayed. If 
the names of those who labor are inscribed on the hands of 
our King, we should not be forgetful of their loving and 
faithful toil. 



194 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Bibliography 

:hool S\ Wells. 

Topic fob Special Study 
The advisability of a paid teaching force. 

Topics for Class Discrssiox 

1. What outstanding qualities should a Sunday-school 
teacher possess? 

2. What natural sources of teacher supply are there? 

3. Where must we look most largely for our future 
teacher supply? 

4. Which class of teachers are best for effective work: 
the trained young people of the school or older teachers 
ri:i.r:ri where possible! 

r S oggest several plans ::: solution of the 
problem. 

6. What is the superintendents duty with reference to 
his teachers " 

7. In what ways can he be most helpful to them? 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE WORKERS' CONFERENCE 

This gathering is known also as the "workers' council" 
and "workers' meeting." It was formerly known as the 
"teachers' meeting"; but this name has been superseded, 
as both teachers and officers are included in the workers' 
conference. 

There are five objectives in such gatherings: (a) the 
school business items; (6) the problems of school manage- 
ment; (c) the teacher's class problems; (d) methods, rather 
than material, of teaching the lesson; (e) normal material 
and drill to aid the teacher's personal equipment. A super- 
intendent cannot well omit a meeting having such impor- 
tant objects. The meeting is vital to the school's largest 
success. It is essential to the teacher's help and training. 
It gives power and point to the Sunday lesson session. It 
is the superintendent's close-range contact with his teach- 
ers. It promotes the social life. 

Where the uniform lessons are still in use, an important 
function of the meeting will be the consideration of the 
lesson for the following Sunday. This is treated in detail 
below. It should not be supposed, however, that the lack 
of a uniform lesson makes this meeting unnecessary, much 
less impossible. Its most important functions still remain, 
as may be realized from a consideration of the objectives 
named. 

The principal thing is to agree upon the necessity of a 
meeting with such a program of work. The details must 
be worked out according to local conditions, with such help 
as comes from the experience of other schools, and with 
all the push, patience, and energy the superintendent can 
muster. 

195 



196 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

1. How to promote the conference. Make up your 
mind that the workers' conference is absolutely essential, 
that it will become a regular feature of the school work. 
Call your officers and teachers into conference. Get them 
to desire it by the attractiveness of the plans presented 
and to enroll in writing for its regular support. If there 
should be special opposition, get approval to a plan to under- 
take it for three months on trial. 

Invite young people of the school who should have the 
benefit of this meeting as a stimulus toward future work. 
Ask all class presidents to attend the conference. Enlist 
the teacher who feels he does not need it for himself in the 
interest of helping others. Encourage the new teacher by 
giving him a part he can easily take without disadvantage. 
Strive for a 100-per-cent attendance, including officers. Make 
the meeting so interesting that no one can afford to stay 
away. Have a printed or typewritten schedule of meetings 
distributed, showing special weekly or monthly topics and 
speakers. Just before the meeting send to irregular at- 
tendants word of the meeting, topic, and a special word of 
invitation. Get the department superintendents interested 
through a competitive plan, announcing for a time the 
attendance by departments and relative percentage. 

2. Conditions of success. No one plan can be sug- 
gested which will meet the conditions of all schools. Work- 
ers' conferences have been attempted in many places and 
have failed sometimes for want of plan, sometimes for lack 
of push. They have been a success in others through push 
and the combination of features that have made them 
steadily attractive. They will not run themselves except 
ing downhill. The social feature has entered helpfully into 
many of the successful plans. 

3. Character of the conferences. The workers' con- 
ference may be a weekly, a monthly, or a quarterly affair, 
depending on conditions and the objectives to be gained. 

(1) The weekly workers' conference. — A weekly meeting 
is to be preferred. It should be held at the church if pos- 



THE WORKERS' CONFERENCE 197 

sible or at some other suitable place. From an hour to 
an hour and a quarter should be given to it. A favorite 
plan, combining social and other features, is for the workers 
to gather at the church or a home at six or six-fifteen for 
supper arranged by the hostess or a committee, and toward 
which each one contributes from ten to twenty-five cents, 
according to cost. If the gathering is at the church, and 
before the prayer meeting, the supper is disposed of, and 
the meeting called to order at six-forty-five or seven o'clock. 
An hour is then given to business items, teachers' and 
school problems, and the lesson. If the conference is not 
hurried on account of the prayer meeting, a fuller program 
is possible, including a normal drill or brief papers by 
teachers, or a chapter or review of a book in the teachers' 
library. Or the meeting, if held at a home or the church, 
may be concluded with a social time, the officers in turn 
providing light refreshments. The lesson study period of 
the weekly conference may be adapted to the International 
Group Lessons as well as to the Uniform Lessons. When 
the study period is reached, under the plan of the same 
graded lesson for the whole department, the departmental 
teachers are separately grouped for this lesson. 

In some of our best schools the weekly conference takes 
on the form of an institute. These plans will be illustrated 
later. 

(2) The monthly workers' conference. — From the lesson 
standpoint this resolves itself into a preview of a month's 
lessons for either the uniform or the group lessons. That 
preview may be given by four different teachers, represent- 
ing different departments, or by one person, who briefly 
emphasizes the teaching points in the four lessons with 
reference to the needs of teachers of different ages. 

From the standpoint of business, teachers' and school 
problems, and the training of teachers the monthly con- 
ference will include many of the features of the weekly 
conference. Examples of these will be given below. 

Where the lesson is not featured, the monthly conference 



198 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

may take on one of two forms: entirely separate confer- 
ences of departmental officers and teachers, in which purely 
departmental questions will be considered; or a gathering 
of all the workers for supper, the consideration of school 
questions, the presentation of some educational topic of 
general interest, and then the separation into groups for 
consideration of problems peculiar to the departmental 
worker. 

One school that met in a monthly departmental confer- 
ence divided the evenings into four parts: (a) old business; 
(fc) new business; (c) pupil study; teaching methods; how 
best to apply to the pupils' needs the outstanding points 
in the departmental lessons for the succeeding month; (d) 
social half hour. 

Following the suggestion of the Philadelphia Sunday 
School Association the schools of that city, in a campaign 
for "better schools/' adopted a program of topic discus- 
sions and forward steps at monthly workers' meetings for 
ten months. The outline was: September — supper, va- 
cation experiences; topic, "Three Advance Steps for Our 
School This Year." October — at home of superintendent; 
"The Value of the Community Training School and How to 
Enroll Members From Your School." November — "The 
Preparation of a Lesson for Teaching" by two teachers. 
December — "How to Guide Each Pupil to Christian Decision 
and Into Church Membership." January — "New Equipment 
Needed and How to Get It." February — "The Young 
People's Work in Our School and Church." March — 
"Training in Worship." April — "Training in Giving." May 
— "Organizing the Missionary Program of the School." 
June — "How I May Know Whether My Teaching Is Effec- 
tive." 

(3) The quarterly workers' conference. — This conference 
eliminates the lesson and often the training or educational 
features. It becomes a gathering of all the officers and 
teachers, including supper and social features, reports of 
the general and departmental officers and committees, a 



THE WORKERS' CONFERENCE 199 

consideration of some outstanding school needs and prob- 
lems, and forward-looking plans and programs for the en- 
tire school. Some of these features will be considered in a 
later paragraph. 

4. Some successful plans. A plan carried out by Dr. 
Don Kinney at Newton, Kansas, included a weekly gather- 
ing at the home and an hour's program covering fifteen 
minutes for a book review of new books in their teachers' 
library, a ten-minute drill, twenty minutes devoted to lesson 
points and discussion, and fifteen minutes to business and 
social items. The Methodist Sunday School at Opelika, 
Alabama, has for a long time maintained a weekly council 
with an advertised program, including two or three live 
topics on management and teachers' problems, and the les- 
son topic. 

The plan in operation at the First Baptist Sunday School 
of Los Angeles provides for a Friday-evening institute from 
October to June. This plan provides for the grouping of all 
special study classes, business meetings of various church 
organizations, and general committee meetings on this 
one evening. The time schedule is: 6:15 p. m., supper; 7:30, 
general assembly; 8:00, first class period; 8:40, second 
class period; 9:20, adjournment. During the supper the 
business is transacted. The assembly includes stereopticon 
lectures, dramatic missionary tableaux, class demonstra- 
tions, musical recitals by the church choir or Sunday-school 
orchestra, and special addresses. In the first study period 
six classes convene, and four in the second. There are 
classes in teacher training, College Bible Class, Church 
Membership Class, Woman's Society Study Class, Men's 
Brotherhood Mission Study Class, and Spanish-language 
study classes. In addition a special teachers' preparation 
class is held for three months from "October to December, 
covering generally the topics: "Our Teaching Force: Its 
Relation to the Church, School, and People"; "Our School 
Plan: How We Are Organized for School Administration"; 
"The Educational Plan of Our Church"; "Department and 



200 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Class: How the Students Are Divided, Graded, and Or- 
ganized"; *'The Teacher's Personal Prayer Life"; ''The 
Teacher as a Person"; "The Teacher's Personal Prepara- 
tion." 

The First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School of Pasa- 
dena, California, put over a midsummer school and Sunday- 
school program attended by nearly one hundred officers and 
teachers. The plan included a supper at six-fifteen and a 
one-hour program, including instructional methods, depart- 
mental problems, cooperation of all church and Sunday- 
school societies, inspirational talks, educational libraries 
and literature, teacher training, and Rally Day planning. 

At the Foundry Church Sunday School, Washington, D. C, 
the program of the weekly institute included supper at 
5:30 p. ic : classes. 6:10 to 6:50; Bible study and devo- 
tional, 8:00 to 8:45. The classes studied (1) church his- 
tory; (2) Bible: (3) child study; (4) organization and 
administration of the church school: (5) how to teach re- 
ligion; (6) training of the devotional life; (7) a Method- 
ist church and its work. 

The monthly meeting of the First Christian Sunday 
School of Council Bluffs, Iowa, provided for supper, brief 
reports of officers, some one educational feature, and the 
discussion of new plans. Another school began with supper 
at six-fifteen, then twenty minutes of business, followed by 
a course on principles and methods of religious education, 
then the prayer meeting. Still another school, after the 
usual preliminaries, separated into four divisions — Officers. 
Children's, Young People's, and Adult — each division con- 
sidering problems peculiar to itself. The Children's Di- 
vision workers, for instance, considered principles and meth- 
ods, types or worship; the Young People's Division the four- 
fold life and the organized class. 

In my own school the plan is that of monthly depart- 
mental and quarterly conferences. Our plans have included 
many varieties of the programs outlined above, including 
the workers' institute, covering two terms providing for 



THE WORKERS' CONFERENCE 201 

three periods — devotional, and educational or Bible period 
of interest to all, and a departmental period, with appro- 
priate textbooks. 

5. Special items in the workers' conference. Some 
of the items making up the workers' conference, whether 
weekly, monthly, or quarterly, we will especially emphasize. 

(1) Teacher training. — The time is not far distant, we 
trust, when it will be required of every worker that he 
shall, before taking up the work of the Sunday school, 
prepare himself through the study of courses in the Bible, 
in the principles of religious education, and in Sunday- 
school methods, either in a class conducted during the 
Sunday-school hour, in a week-night meeting, or by a cor- 
respondence-study course. For the present, however, we 
have many teachers who are not so trained and who must 
be helped to a greater efficiency through drills in the weekly 
workers' meeting or in some other form of week-night meet- 
ing. Full reference to the standard courses and specializa- 
tion material has been made in other chapters. Selections 
from this course of those parts most helpful to the workers 
must be made for the workers' conference — that is, where 
the workers are not taking the complete course. 

For the conduct of such a class the teachers should be 
supplied with the texts used, the purchase being made 
either by the individuals or by the school. Where the study 
is required before one may take up the work of teaching, 
it would not be amiss for the school to bear at least a part 
of the expense of the course. 

(2) The "problem" feature of the meeting. — Problems 
may be selected weekly by the superintendent or by the 
program committee. Two for each meeting should be suf- 
ficient — one a teacher's problem and one a school problem. 
These may be assigned previously, presented briefly, and 
then discussed by all. Sometimes a round-table leaflet, 
embracing a large number of subjects, may be used, and 
selections made at the meeting by those present for informal 
discussion within the limits of the time allowance. The 



202 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

local conditions will govern the topics selected, but there 
are problems common to all schools, some of which may be 
suggested for use: How to secure punctuality. Our Sun- 
day-school singing: how improved? What drill or supple- 
mental work should the school undertake? How increase 
Bible bringing? Promotion Day and its exercises. How to 
advertise the school. The Home Department: methods for 
increasing it. How increase the school's interest in mis- 
sions? How can the service of worship be made more in- 
teresting? Decision Day: the best plans for it. How hold 
our larger boys? How increase the school's offerings? Our 
absentees: how reached? Rally Day: how to make it suc- 
cessful? How most effectively to reach the parents of the 
school. The teachers' problems may include: How to in- 
terest the indifferent pupil. What is the best use to make 
of the talkative pupil? How to get the pupil to study the 
lesson at home. How to gain attention. How to question 
wisely. How to use the element of prayer as a teaching 
factor. Sometimes it is well to refer a teacher's problem 
to a teacher, the answer to be given at the following meet- 
ing in the words of some Sunday-school authority. Teach- 
ers should be encouraged to bring a list of personal or class 
problems for discussion in an "experience" period. 

(3) Other features. — Various other features may oc- 
casionally be introduced. Read and discuss weekly a chap- 
ter in some helpful book, such as Teaching and Teachers, 
Trumbull; The Boy and the Church, Foster; or The Girl 
in Her Teens, Slattery. A review of these or other books 
may be given by the librarian or a teacher to inspire a 
desire for their reading. Invite a class president or some 
promising pupil to give his idea of the school and its needs 
from the pupil's standpoint. 

(4) The devotional opening. — Some teacher or officer 
should lead this. A song and prayer or several prayers 
probably will be sufficient, but a prayer topic will be found 
helpful. This should be related, if possible, to some special 
need of the school or should look toward the special school 



THE WORKERS' CONFERENCE 203 

plan for the following Sunday. It would be a good plan to 
sing one or two of the new school songs as an aid in the 
singing of these by the school. 

(5) Plans for the lesson period. — If the International 
Graded Lessons are in use, the workers may separate into 
department groups. The superintendent of each department 
or a specially appointed leader will present departmental 
problems and methods. If the Improved Uniform Lessons 
are used, one meeting for all will suffice. Notebooks or 
pads and pencils should be provided by the teachers or by 
the school, together with a blackboard and such charts or 
maps as may be required to give the lesson setting. The 
lesson period should be led by the person best fitted to 
do so, whether pastor, superintendent, or a teacher. Teach- 
ing methods are many. The best plans presume that the 
lesson has at least been read by the teachers before coming 
and the lesson facts mastered. This will save going over 
the lesson in unnecessary detail. The superintendent can 
assist his teachers in this home preparation by suggesting 
a day-by-day plan for the teacher. Mr. Trumbull's leaflet 
on How to Plan the Lesson for Teaching or something simi- 
lar should be distributed to all teachers. The plan of hav- 
ing a different teacher for each lesson may work in some 
places but is open to the objection that the results may be 
irregular, and the attendance diminish. But the teachers 
can be encouraged to take some part. There is general 
agreement that the lecture method will not work as a regu- 
lar program. The text may be read verse by verse from 
the American Revised Version. A teacher may prepare 
the lesson as he would teach it to his class, then have the 
teachers criticize the plan. Verses may be given out to dif- 
ferent teachers with a request for the most practical thought 
on each verse and an illustration of it. 

How to bring the lesson into the terms of the life of the 
boys and girls of to-day, so that it shall seem real, is a vital 
need. Get someone to tell the lesson story in that fashion 
occasionally. Some lessons will have outstanding difficul- s 



204 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ties. Let these be attacked at the very beginning. Several 
members may be asked to bring a leading thought and an 
illustration for present-day life. Eor variety the teachers 
may be taught as a junior class or a class of some other 
department, the teachers answering or asking questions 
just as boys and girls would, The lesson may be presented 
on a preview plan, with a key word as its central thought, 
to fit into a quarterly review plan. Or the golden texts 
may be used as the links of the quarterly chain. Good 
questioning on a particular lesson may be illustrated by a 
set of questions prepared by a teacher and criticized. Or 
the quarterly printed questions may be taken up and criti- 
cized. How to illustrate the lesson and how best to review 
it may be presented by a teacher in the same way. A work- 
able outline may have the same treatment, several present- 
ing their plans for criticism. At the meeting's close a 
summary of best points by the leader or someone well 
qualified for this will be worth while. 

A plan tried with general success is the advance assign- 
ment to the teachers (in writing) of certain questions or 
parts in the lesson. These assignments may be in the form 
of questions that bring out the salient points, or the "angle" 
method. By the latter method each one receiving an assign- 
ment contributes briefly the "angle" called for. For ex- 
ample: Angle Number 1 — Approach: Give the subject of 
the last lesson, a brief treatment of the intervening his- 
tory, time, place, and circumstances leading up to this 
lesson. Angle Number 2 — The less Give the les- 

son story in your own words. Angle Number 3— .-. 
Give a simple working outline for studying and teaching 
the lesson. Angle Number 4 — Be :es: Give helpful 

references and parallel passages, showing how they bear 
upon the lesson. Angle Number 5 — Biography: Give names 
of persons, classes, and nations mentioned or referred to. 
Angle Number 6 — Orientalisms: Give any Oriental customs 
or manners peculiar to this lesson. Angle Number 7 — 
k Principal teachings: Give the principal truths most forci- 



THE WORKERS' CONFERENCE 205 

bly taught. Angle Number 8 — First step: Give a good way 
to introduce this lesson to your class so as to gain attention 
from the start. Angle Number 9 — Primary: Give those 
features of this lesson which are best adapted to primary 
children. Angle Number 10 — Objects: Give a list of any 
objects that might be profitably shown in teaching this 
lesson. Angle Number 11 — Illustrations : Give a few inci- 
dents or facts that will serve as illustrations. Angle Num- 
ber 12 — Practical points: Give the most practical points 
in personally applying the lesson to the everyday life of 
the pupils. One school gets out a quarterly folder, printing 
these -angles and a special topic for each week's discussion, 
with a blank form to be filled in by the superintendent, as- 
signing to the teachers a definite angle for each week for 
presentation within a three-minute limit. 

(6) The business items. — Let the officers' cabinet elimi- 
nate the "dry" business items, which may be posted by the 
secretary for those desiring to read them. Where the school 
work is done largely by committees, these reports and rec- 
ommendations will be taken up. Teachers' monthly class 
reports may be read by the teachers present and by the 
secretary for those absent. If the number of classes is 
large, a summary of these reports may be given by the 
secretary, stress being placed on encouraging items to 
stimulate class and visiting work. Department superin- 
tendents may report for their department items of special 
interest in department efficiency and progress. Teachers 
will thus get a glimpse of the entire work of the school. 
New teachers may be introduced. Neighborhood problems 
may be discussed, as well as some stimulating school topic, 
such as "A School Motto, Colors, and Flower," or "The 
Class Spirit: How to Promote It." 

(7) The annual business meeting. — This may have a 
social side, but should be a separate affair from the annual 
social. A good plan is to meet at the church for supper 
and then take up the evening's business. This will consist 
in the reports of the year's work by departments and com- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 



mittees. If prepared with snap and with those illustrative 
details which brighten up such reports, the gathering will 
partake of the enthusiastic qualities of a Sunday-school 
convention, and the report of "our department" will be 
eagerly listened to by every teacher in it. This affair will 
be an objective, with an element of department competition 
in it to stimulate all the workers. The outstanding items 
in the reports should be given the school and church and 
published in the church paper and in the local press, 
The election of officers should follow. 

Bibliography 

Wells. 
Meetings: Their Necessity and Methods, 

Trumbull. 

Topics fob Special Study 

1. The importance of the workers' conference to the super- 
intendent. 

2. What is the object of the workers' meeting? 

3. What items should be included in its program? 

4. Suggest plans of building up attendance. 

5. How can the business meeting be made interesting? 

6. Name five important school problems for discussion. 

7. Name three different plans for the lesson period for 
the workers' meeting. 

S. What is the value of departmental conferences? 



. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 

The school exists for the pupil, for winning his loyalty 
to Christ, for his spiritual culture, for his training for 
service. It is, or should be, the enlargement of the true 
Christian family life, the second step in that development 
of life which has its consummation in the eternal home life 
with God. We know that in multitudes of cases there is no 
true home life, and this constitutes a larger reason why the 
school should not fail, through its personnel, atmosphere, 
and activities, in giving the pupil the right conception of 
life's meaning and purpose. No conception of our duty to 
the pupil can suffice which does not include a vital interest 
in his entire life, week-day as well as Sunday. 

1. Attaching the pupil to the school. (1) Welcom- 
ing the new pupil. — How definitely we recall that first Sun- 
day in the new .Sunday school when the shining face and 
warm handclasp of the superintendent made it, that very 
Sunday, "my school"! It was June to us. And how well 
you may recall that Sunday when you wandered into the 
new school, found a seat somewhere, were finally "dug out" 
by an officer, and were taken to a strange class, where the 
teacher failed to ask you your name and did not tell you 
his, and you went out in tears and with a longing for the 
warm fellowship of the old school! It was December to you. 

Have a welcome or "friendly grip" committee to introduce 
the pupil to the assignment superintendent or secretary, 
who assists the pupil to sign an application form. Then 
introduce him to the class or department superintendent. 
The same or the following Sunday invite the pupil forward 
and, with a cordial word of welcome and introduction, pre- 
sent him with a school certificate of membership, the school 

207 



208 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

or department singing a verse of welcome or repeating a 
sentence of welcome. The names of new pupils may be 
written upon the blackboard for recognition, showing de- 
partment or class assignment, and may be inscribed in a 
new-pupil record, to be hung upon the wall. The school 
pin may be given to the new pupil as a part of the intro- 
duction service. On the Monday following his admission 
mail the new pupil a welcome letter, inclosing Hints to the 
Pupil, a leaflet outlining the school duties, plans, and privi- 
leges. If your school has several departments, the letter 
should differ for each department, so that a different letter 
may be received by members of the same family upon join- 
ing the school. The letter should ask for the fullest co- 
operation and suggest that a change of class will be ef- 
fected if the pupil should not feel at home in the new class. 
A letter to the parent may be sent at the same time, noting 
with pleasure that the child has become a member, inviting 
a visit, and suggesting some plans of home cooperation. 

The teacher should be requested to visit the home of the 
new pupil the following week, making a report of such 
visitation on a card form. This should show the church 
relationships of the family and the names of others in the 
home who are not in attendance upon Sunday school. 

A once-a-month or once-a-quarter introduction service may 
be preferred to the welcome each Sunday, the enrollment 
secretary reading the names and the names of those bring- 
ing in the new pupils, the service then carried out as sug- 
gested above. Periodically a reception service to new pu- 
pils may be arranged on a week-night, when they shall be 
designated by special ribbons, and some "get acquainted ,, 
games played. 

(2) Birtliday recognition. — Young and old appreciate 
such recognition. The letters and gifts are treasured for 
years. The birthdays of the members of the whole school 
should be so remembered, the adults and Home Department 
members no less than the youngest. Frequently the ap- 
preciation of the adult is larger because he is less remem- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 209 

bered at home than the child. The birthday record of each 
member should be kept, by the birthday superintendent or 
the birthday secretary of the school or department, in a 
card-index form arranged by months, showing name, ad- 
dress, birthday, department, and class. A birthday register 
arranged by months is sometimes used, or a monthly birth- 
day calendar hung upon the school wall; but the card index 
is the quickest to handle and can be kept clean of cancel- 
lations. 

A birthday card or letter with card, differing each year 
and different in each department, should be mailed or de- 
livered by the messenger service. This card may be es- 
pecially printed to carry a seasonal reference, with quota- 
tions from great men. One school used cards of foreign- 
missionary scenes and work, obtained from its denomina- 
tional missionary society. This is specially appropriate if 
the birthday offering goes for missions. An envelope for 
the offering may be inclosed, the object of the offering being 
stated. For the pupil above the Primary Department a red 
carnation for the boys and white for the girls will make a 
pleasing additional recognition. For the younger pupils 
the Sunday recognition may be more elaborate, including 
the march, with the birthday banner, birthday song, birth- 
day text (Psa. 90. 12), and the offering to some particular 
object of charity, such as a child's bed in a hospital. Some- 
times one Sunday in each month is set aside as Birthday 
Sunday. On that day officers, teachers, and pupils whose 
birthdays have occurred within the month march to the 
front, each depositing in a special receptacle as many pen- 
nies as they are years old. Appropriate Scripture verses 
are recited, such as James 1. 17; Matt. 10. 8&; 2 Cor. 9. 7; 
and Prov. 23. 26. "God Will Take Care of You" is sung, and 
a prayer of thanksgiving offered. Often a monthly birth- 
day party is given by the school on a week night. 

(3) The pupil's sex Hfe.-^-No subject is more vital yet 
more difficult to handle. It is so intimately related to 
physical, soul, and character development that it should not 



210 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

"be avoided. There is no question but that the pupil will be 
grateful for this interest, and that it will prove a new means 
of attachment to the teacher and school. And in most cases 
the parents will appreciate the interest if it is wisely 
manifested. 

It is agreed that the first duty of entering frankly and 
helpfully with the pupil into this untraveled realm of life 
is upon the parents. That parents fail so often in this 
respect is common knowledge. The teacher and superin- 
tendent should wherever possible supplement the parents' 
work: 

(a) By arranging separate meetings of fathers and of 
mothers, to be addressed by a physician or other wise 
worker. The duties of parents can be enforced, and wise 
books suggested. 1 A parents' talk is usually to be preferred 
to a book. 

(b) By a careful letter to parents of pupils of the teen 
age, suggesting the right books and the parents' privilege 
and duty of such service to the young people during the 
critical years. This may reach parents who would not at- 
tend a parents' gathering. 

(c) Through the teacher's personal help after conference 
with the parents or, at times, upon the teacher's own initia- 
tive where it seems wise. 

{d) By separate gatherings of the young men and of the 
young women from sixteen up for a sane, frank talk by a 
Christian physician. 

(4) The pupil entering business. — Just here is fre- 
quently the point of cleavage between the pupil and his 
Sunday-school life. He may think himself entitled to Sun- 



1 Such as From Youth to Manhood, Hall ; Confidential Talks With Young 
Men, Sperry.' A series published by the Society of Sanitary and Moral 
Prophylaxis is commended to the careful consideration of pastors, superin- 
tendents, and teachers — namely, The Young Man's Problem; Education in 
the Physiology and Hygiene of Sex for Teachers; The Relation of Social 
Diseases With Marriage; The Boy Problem; Horn My Uncle, the Doctor, 
Instructed Me in Matters of Sex; Health and the Hygiene of Sex for 
College Students. These pamphlets may be procured through The Methodist 
Book Concern. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 211 

days for recreation and sometimes he is encouraged in this 
view by his parents. If the school interest is lax, he is 
often lost to membership. An employment department in 
connection with the school can perform a large service in 
this respect. Business houses will be glad to be put in 
touch with the right young people. In the writer's school 
about three hundred positions annually are obtained for its 
young people and parents with but slight cost to the school, 
and the young people thus linked in grateful interest with 
the school. All that is needed is an employment superin-, 
tendent or committee as a part of the social-service pro- 
gram of the school, and circular letters or personal calls on 
employers of labor asking for cooperation. The pupil fills 
out an application form and is notified where to go. 

(5) The unruly pupil. — Let the superintendent invite 
him to his home alone or with a few others who may be, 
like him, leaders of groups or gangs of boys. Something 
good to eat, a talk about great leaders of the world, and an 
invitation to cooperate in some definite, responsible service 
will ordinarily win him over to your side. The teacher, too, 
should utilize his activity in definite work. Lend the boy 
the right book or magazine, find out the things in which he 
is interested, and appeal to those interests. Sometimes get 
him a job. One such boy told the other boys that they 
would all have to behave, as the superintendent got him a 
job, and he must not go back on him. 

Judge Lindsey said, "I believe that for every so-called 
bad boy in this world there is some person who can save 
him." The superintendent or teacher is frequently the only 
influence rightly to guide his life. His presumed badness 
is usually misdirected energy. It is up to the school to 
keep that energy employed in right channels. It should 
never be difficult to get a boy's heart if you hold the key 
of love and sympathy. 

(6) How to hold the boys. — Give them, wherever possi- 
ble, men teachers. Lay this burden upon your men's classes. 
Keep promises to them when made. Set manly standards 



212 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

in word and life. Promote a teachers' club of the boys' 
teachers to study the best books. 1 Pay attention to the boy 
when sick. If you can, imagine yourself back at fourteen. 
Give one evening a week to a group of boys at your own 
home. Get in to see the boys' parents, if you can, for a 
friendly call. Get the father to join a men's class as the 
best method of holding his boy to the school. Make up for 
teachers of boys' classes lists of places of interest in your 
community for boys to visit with their teachers. Get a men's 
class to plan an outfit for the boys' evening and a regular 
room. Give the boy something hard to do for the school 
and the church. Get the men to open their homes to him. 
Let him know there is something ahead of him in the school 
plans and life. Individualize the boy in his difficulties and 
tastes and meet them. Know what he does with his eve- 
nings and what his home life is like. Build him into the 
social and recreational life of the school on lines suggested 
in Chapter XV. Build the men around him as friends, 
not as policemen. Bring him to feel the dignity of Bible 
study and the nobility of Christian living and service. 

(7) Methods of using pupils. — Utilize them in making 
posters, designing pins or badges, cutting pictures from 
magazines and making them up in books for the sick and 
shut-ins, repairing old toys for Christmas, and sewing for 
the needy. Have them occasionally prepare a paper on 
some Bible, Sunday-school, civic, or welfare topic. In one- 
or two-minute statements let the classes, through the 
teacher or a member, report the class work done. Through 
the King's Messenger Corps give the pupils definite work. 
Use them as pages and helpers before and during the ses- 
sion. 

(8) When the pupil leaves. — Notice his going by an- 
nouncement, a prayer, and Godspeed. Provide him with 



1 Such as Winning the Boy, Merrill (Fleming H. Re veil Company) ; 
The Boy and the Church, Foster (Sunday School Times Company) ; Starting 
to Teach, Foster (International Y. M. C. A.) ; The Boy Problem, Forbush 
(Pilgrim Press) ; Boyville, Gunckel. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 213 

a transfer to another school. Write the superintendent of 
the school to which he is going to look him up. 

(9) When the pupil is sick. — This is the school's golden 
opportunity to win home and pupil. Adequate attention 
here, through superintendent, teacher, or visiting commit- 
tee, will be repaid in loyal and long interest in the school. 

(10) When a pupil dies. — See that the school committee 
sends flowers in the name of the school, call or write a per- 
sonal word of sympathy to parents, remember the family 
in prayer in the following Sunday's session, and inscribe 
the name and date of death on an "in memoriam" list, to 
be kept on the school wall. 

2. Securing home study. Mr. Beecher once said: "The 
ordinary superintendent strikes the bell, gives out a hymn, 
makes the opening prayer, and then walks around and 
looks important until time to do the same things again and 
close the school. The extraordinary superintendent makes 
it his business to see that the teachers and children all 
learn something worth while out of the Word of God." 
Probably no more practical service could be done by the 
superintendent than to promote the pupil's home study 
of the lesson. This is a confessedly weak point in the aver- 
age school. 

With the average pupil we cannot expect home study 
unless it is suggested and indicated. 

(1) Weekly lesson study questions. — Many schools dis- 
tribute each week home-study question slips, with, say, ten 
printed questions on the lesson for the following Sunday, 
due credit being given for the school honors. Or these slips 
may give the location of the lesson with the following ques- 
tion words: When? Where? Who? What? What then? 
These questions are to be answered in writing. They are 
in some cases printed in the church calendar of the previous 
Sunday. The school may grade its questions with, say, five 
or six questions each for the departments above the pri- 
mary, suggesting Bible references. A brief prayer may be 
printed to broaden the pupil's prayer life. 



214 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

(2) The teacher's plans. — (a) The teacher may give to 
each pupil a written question covering some point in the 
lesson for the following Sunday concerning a city or per- 
son or event, giving the reference and numbering the ques- 
tion so that it will surely be asked for on the Sunday; or 
during the week a postal card or a letter, with a suggestion 
indicating some book in which information may be found, 
may be sent the pupil. A remembrance may be given to 
the pupil or pupils who do the best work on these home- 
study-slip questions. 

(b) An excellent plan is to give to each pupil a definite 
part in the lesson to prepare, such as connecting events, 
time and place, persons, events, teachings, and a few good 
Scripture references. These parts may be shifted weekly, 
so that the pupil would get acquainted with the full plan 
of lesson study. 

(e) A week-night meeting of teacher and class, in which 
in addition to the games and a little social time, the lesson 
of the following Sunday is taken up from some angle of 
unusual interest, is helpful. 

(d) Teacher or superintendent may suggest on Sunday 
some good book or books in the school or public library, 
fiction or otherwise, which will give some light on the 
lesson. 

(e) The superintendent may ask classes in turn to be 
responsible for a brief statement of the connecting link 
between lessons, the statement to be made before the time 
of the lesson reading by the school. 

(/) Teacher or superintendent may indicate to the pupil 
by word or card the Bible books in which the lessons will 
be located for the quarter and urge the home reading of 
these books, the pupil to give the outstanding persons and 
places of these books when called for. 

(3) Home daily Bible readings. — These may be encour- 
aged through distributing to all the pupils using the uni- 
form or other lessons the list of daily readings for the year. 
This should be in convenient form to slip into a Bible. In 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 215 

connection with this list a blank may be given to each 
pupil, with space for each day of the quarter, for the pupil's 
daily marking and report of his Bible reading. In the 
Ridgeway School at Coatesville, Pennsylvania, weekly slips 
of home readings were given out, and a reward given at 
the end of the year to all who, in their homes, had read 
aloud the daily reading in the hearing of the family, the 
Lord's Prayer following. Family worship was thus started 
in many homes. 

3. The absentee. Retention is as important as exten- 
sion. Indeed, it is a vital part of extension. Large schools 
could be built out of the needless waste of some schools. 
Failure to visit or make immediate inquiry is largely the 
reason for irregularity and loss of the pupil. 

The superintendent should seek to find the reason for 
absence and, if possible, remedy the difficulty. A chief 
cause of absence is a misassignment to a class. The at- 
mosphere and attitude of the class and the lack of warmth 
and magnetism of the teacher are other important reasons 
for absence. No pupil's name should be canceled from the 
records without a reason to be approved in writing by the 
department and school superintendent. "Left" written by 
a teacher opposite a pupil's name may cover a crime 
against the pupil. Cancellations of this sort have occurred 
in scores of cases where the pupil has been sick or absent 
for good reason, and the teacher has made absolutely no 
effort to discover the reason. There is no better use of 
time for the superintendent than to sit down for an hour 
with the class books and note the absences. Such leaks in 
business, unremedied, would spell ruin. What is the 
remedy? 

In many schools teachers are supplied with absentee slips, 
on which to report to the superintendent or secretary each 
Sunday the names of absent pupils, with a cross opposite 
those pupils whom the teacher will visit and report on. 
The other names, if any, are referred to the proper com- 
mittee for their visitation during the week. In other 



216 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

cases the teacher's attention is called to the absentee's case 
"by a card from the superintendent showing the number of 
Sundays absent and requesting a report by the following 
Sunday. If a visit is impracticable, the teacher should 
report back at once for attention by the visiting committee 
or upon absentee forms taken by the King's Messenger 
Service to the home of the pupil. In some places the visita- 
tion committee is called the "Scotchers Band," composed 
sometimes of teachers and sometimes of pupils. C. D. Meigs 
called this the "go out" committee rather than the "look- 
out." 

The teacher's personal visit is by far the most effective 
method to employ. A busy Buffalo teacher, with more than 
four hundred young men in his class, makes it a rule to 
make twenty-five weekly calls on his class members. The 
teacher's letter or a visit from the class committee is the 
next thing to a call. A diligent visitation committee may 
render efficient service. One school has an "attendance 
manager," who plotted the entire district, located the pupils 
on it by numbers, and, when a pupil was absent, asked the 
boy or girl nearest to call on the absentee. 

The pursuit of long-time absent pupils will often reveal 
that the drop-out occurred through the teacher's negligence 
or irregularity. They appeared not to be missed, the gap 
grew wider, and other interests intervened to prevent their 
return. Their reentry and assignment to another class will 
often be easy to accomplish, especially if the teacher or a 
pupil of the prospective class calls upon them. 

The superintendent's letter, mailed or taken to the home 
by the messenger service, is another method. The wording 
of this letter is most important. A good letter is half the 
winning. A tactful follow-up letter may complete the job. 
One superintendent got from each of his department super- 
intendents a list of all persistent absentees and sent a 
personally signed typewritten letter to each. The results 
were so good that a second letter followed to nonreporting 
cases. A letter to the parents in some cases is to be ap- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 217 

proved. In one successful school a card is sent to one 
Sunday's absentees, requesting information of sickness. 
After a second Sunday the teacher calls or writes a letter. 
After the third Sunday the superintendent or some other 
representative of the school calls. 

4. Attendance and rewards. How may the school's 
attendance be encouraged? The strongest lodestone for 
regular attendance and sustained interest through the years 
is an interesting school session, a devout, able teacher, and 
loyal class spirit. Rewards and similar devices will not 
take the place of consistent, efficient work on the part of 
officers and teachers. The average attendance of the Sun- 
day schools of the entire country is about 60 per cent. 
This surely may be improved. 

In certain periods pupils are moved by the incentive of 
a reward. It is well for a school to include other worthy 
objectives besides attendance in its reward system. It 
should be remembered that a poorly managed school cannot 
hope for permanent results from a reward incentive alone. 
Better attendance must be secured by better programs, a 
toning up of the teaching force, and a firmer grip on all 
sides of the pupil's life. 

The best results come from a reward plan in which the 
honors are within the reach of all, and not prizes that can 
be won by one or two, and which usually leave an after- 
math of hurt and disappointment. These honors should 
be cumulative, making for continuous interest. 

It may be a good plan to announce the number absent 
each Sunday. This may be a little shock to pride, but will 
lead to visiting and to the removal of dead wood after an 
effort at salvage. There will always be those more or less 
necessarily away who should have a place in an associate 
or reserve membership, so that the perfect attendance of 
the active enrollment will not be interfered with. 

(1) Some effective honor plans. — Among workable plans 
may be suggested the following: 

The Loyal Sunday School Army plan provides for mark- 



218 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ing in three respects: (a) attendance, whether punctual 
or tardy; (o) lesson, well learned or partly learned; (c) 
offering, amount not indicated. 

A plan in wide use, originating in the Marion Lawrance 
Sunday School in Toledo, involves the use of the Robert 
Raikes Diploma, with yearly colored seals and a yearly 
celluloid button to match the seals. 

The plan at Bushwick Avenue Methodist Episcopal Sun- 
day School, Brooklyn, includes recognition of attendance, 
punctuality, daily Bible reading and daily prayer, offering, 
church attendance, home work, Bible bringing, supple- 
mental work, and new members. These items are gradu- 
ated to the needs of the different departments. 

The Temple Baptist Sunday School of Los Angeles once a 
year gives "Front Rank Honors" to all whose record is per- 
fect on five points: attendance, on time, with Bible, offering, 
and a studied lesson. A green arch, outlined with gold and 
ivy-covered, was on the platform. Through the arch filed 
those, first, whose record was perfect; then those who had, 
while absent, attended another school under required con- 
ditions; then those with only one absence. 

One school gives a ribbon badge, with celluloid emblems 
in the form of a star, heart, crescent, and Maltese cross, 
each of these emblems standing for one point in the mark- 
ing system of the school. Another school has a cabin-con- 
structing campaign, each class completing its cabin if its 
record was perfect, one log standing for a certain credit. 

The Eoerhari Roll of Honor plan involves the wearing of 
ribbons indicating the quarterly or yearly record. Local 
school pins in bronze or silver or gold, with or without bar 
attachments for succeeding years, are used with success. 

In these and other plans it seems fair to recognize best 
effort. Personal illness or home illness that may prevent 
attendance should be allowed for, an excuse form being 
signed by parent, teacher, and superintendent. In many 
schools the plan is carried clear through the year, at- 
tendance at a Sunday school while away in the summer be- 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 219 

ing indicated by a vacation card signed at the school at- 
tended. Other recognition plans for stimulating attendance, 
and including such other features as may be determined 
upon by the local school, are: 

The attendance chart for department or school. The 
Pilgrim Congregational Sunday School of Dorchester, Mas- 
sachusetts, uses an attendance clock, the two hands stand- 
ing for attendance improvement over previous year, and for 
new-member record. 

An occasional bracing letter or "stand by the work" card 
from the superintendent to pupils will be helpful in sus- 
taining attendance. 

The use of a large thermometer to indicate attendance, 
enrollment, and a comparison with the preceding year. 

The giving of free tickets to a school entertainment at 
which educational moving pictures are shown to those who 
have had a perfect attendance and a perfect on-time record 
during a certain period. 

The recognition of "star" classes, a star attached to a 
standard being held by a class with a perfect attendance 
record for a month. One school recognizes as "model" 
classes those whose record has been perfect for a Sunday, 
and as "record" classes those which keep a perfect record 
for three months. 

The holding of a banner for a month by class or classes 
reaching the required standard. 

Little's Cross and Crown system. 

Star pins in silver and gold according to length of record, 
a wall chart indicating star classes for each Sunday. 

An annual reception to banner or star classes. 

The presentation of on-time buttons for prompt attend- 
ance during a certain period to those who have joined the 
"on-timers' club" and have made good, their attendance 
having been punched on on-time cards. One school gave 
Testaments to those on time for a period. 

In encouraging the pupil's attendance at church as 
one point in the marking system organize a church- 



220 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

worship league for juniors and for seniors or a go-to- 
church band. 

Many clever plans are published by Sunday-school supply 
houses to promote perfect and punctual attendance, new 
membership, etc., such as around-the-world and Holy Land 
tours, automobile or airplane contests. These plans are 
aided by stereopticon views of places visited, stories of 
missionary work, and national customs and conditions of 
life. 

An "honor banquet'* was given by a school to the honor 
classes, which for six months had had a perfect record of 
attendance, with accepted excuses for absentees. Other 
classes were invited to the banquet but had to pay. To 
the honor pupils were given buttonhole bouquets. There 
was speaking by the class officers and others, and good 
music. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School of Burn- 
side, Connecticut, keeps a permanent record of pupils with 
perfect records, and from time to time these are announced 
to stimulate and encourage others. 

The report to parents of the pupil's attendance and honor 
marks has been found a real help in inducing attendance 
and good work. 

The Central Methodist Sunday School of Portsmouth, 
Virginia, has worked out a satisfactory self-marking, quar- 
terly record card, covering six general points of lesson 
study, punctuality, attendance, Bibles, offering, and church 
attendance, and four items on personal work, covering 
visits of service, bringing a new pupil, bringing a visitor, 
and leading someone to attend church. These cards are 
returned to the secretary each Sunday in the class envelope 
for the pupils' marking. 

An ingenious plan is to recognize every class having a 
three weeks' perfect record in the school's requirements as 
pages; those with six Sundays' perfect record as squires; 
and for nine Sundays, knights. The classes known as pages 
are posted and designated with a blue-paper chevron; the 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE PUPIL 221 

squires have added to the chevron a cross of gold paper; 
and the knights add to both a paper crown of gold. 

A very attractive plan to build up Sunday-school attend- 
ance, punctuality, offerings, Bible bringing, and home study 
is an Airship Flight Contest (Goodenough & Woglom Com- 
pany, 14 Vesey Street, New York City), which takes the 
school on a visitation to fourteen great cities of the world. 
Each class has an airship marked with the name of some 
Christian world leader, a preacher or statesman. It com- 
bines educational features of high value with the other ob- 
jectives. 

There are other methods to inspire attendance, such as 
the use of printer's ink, setting out in attractive form a 
monthly program and a few ringing school ideals. 

Bibliography 

The Girl in Her Teens, Slattery. 

The Boy and the Sunday School, Alexander. 

Vocations Within the Churchy Crawford. 

Topic for Special Study 
Reward systems. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. How can the school make effective its first impressions 
upon the pupils? 

2. How may the school recognize pleasantly the pupil's 
birthday? 

3. Has the Sunday school a duty to the pupil's sex life? 

4. Suggest one way in which the school can get a grip 
on the pupil entering business. 

5. State a few methods of holding the boys. 

6. What methods are helpful in recovering the absentee? 

7. State a few good honor plans. 

8. What other methods promote good attendance? 



CHAPTER XV 
RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 

1. Recreation. If we accept the principle that the serv- 
ice of the Sunday school is to the whole life, which God has 
made, to the body and mind as well as to the soul, for the 
week-day life as well as for Sunday, then the duty and 
privilege of the Sunday school are clear. (1) Young people 
will have social enjoyment. Let the conditions under which 
they shall express their God-given nature be the best. (2) 
In developing the physical, through the gymnasium and 
athletics and camp life, we are training young people in 
lessons of sacrifice, fairness, self-control, and manliness, 
and we are getting a large grip on them for the Sunday 
school and the church. (3) The opportunity of contact 
with young people through the channel of these things is 
the superintendent's and teachers' best chance for real 
acquaintance, and it should eventuate in winning them to 
Christ. That is, in fact, the normal result. 

The general responsibility for planning constantly for 
this work should be in the hands of a wise recreation or 
social committee, which could subdivide, if necessary, to 
care for the several departments pf the work. A recreation 
bulletin board is essential for detailed announcements. The 
size of the school and physical conditions of the building 
will of course govern certain features, but with the ad- 
junct of open homes much is possible. 

In Chapter IV reference was made to the need of ade- 
quate equipment for the recreational life. In the last fif- 
teen years great strides have been made in providing this 
equipment in old and new construction. Schools such as 
those at Cedar Rapids and at Vinton, Iowa, have made their 
buildings centers of social and community interest, with 

222 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 223 

game rooms, social rooms, girls' sewing rooms, kitchens or 
kitchenettes, and gymnasiums. The furniture and trim- 
mings have been designed to promote a "homely atmos- 
phere." The Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church of Los 
Angeles has a large social hall, with partitions for smaller 
groups, two kitchens, a banquet hall seating a thousand, 
three motion-picture machines for different rooms, and ten- 
nis and handball courts. 

(1) TUe Sunday-school picnic. — This is an annual feature 
with many schools and needs no special emphasis. The re- 
sponsibility involved in the transportation and care of a 
large body of young people has made many superintendents 
incline to the plan of department outings, which reduces 
the problem of management and brings the department 
superintendent and teachers into special contact with their 
own pupils. It is important to have good committees, a 
good athletic leader, and a good story-teller and game leader 
for younger children, as well as a good photographer. 

Some interesting diversions may be suggested: an egg- 
hunting contest, wooden eggs being hidden over the 
grounds; other contests, such as nail-drawing, stake-draw- 
ing, filling bottles by spoonfuls, wood-sawing, doughnut- and 
pie-eating, and box-making (each contestant is ^supplied 
with six pieces of wood, tackhammer, and nails). Races are 
always popular. Suggested forms are potato, flag (same 
plan as potato), egg and spoon, sack, three-legged, wheel- 
barrow, hoop, peanut, clothes hanging, ball throwing, fas- 
tening clothespins (for women), rope climb, peanut hunt, 
flag hunt, and bobbing for apples. Barrel contests are in- 
teresting. Three barrels are placed equally distant, and a 
boy stands in each barrel with a long pole, with which he 
seeks to overturn the other barrels. 

Other games may include: (a) A number game. — A 
group of persons are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 (on the back) and 
are roped in a square and blindfolded, each number in its 
corner. Upon signal they seek to find their preceding or 
succeeding numbers and then line up. (b) A candle race — 



224 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

carrying lighted candles to certain points in the shortest 
time. 

Among athletic contests may be named the tug-of-war, 
hop-step-and-jump, shot-put, fifty- and one-hundred-yard 
dash, stone-put, and standing broad jump. Bean bags, 
quoits, and baseball are always in order. 

A patriotic picnic may include colors in profusion and 
tableaus of Hudson, the Spirit of '76, the Spirit of 1918, 
flag drills, Columbia, and the national anthem. Patriotic 
songs, with appropriate addresses, may be given in the 
evening. 

Rewards may be given to those who will reach the 
grounds in the most unique way and advertise to the most 
people on the way the fact of the Sunday-school picnic; 
also to those who make the best picnic suggestions for the 
coming year. 

The departmental plan carries the graded principle into 
sports and recreations, and the best schools are providing 
for this plan in the games, contests, songs, and addresses. 
Upon arrival at the grounds departmental standards are 
erected, pupils finding their standards. For the "eats" the 
children may lunch with their teachers or, if with families, 
may find their departmental standards afterward. 

All picnics should provide for a general song service at 
twilight or before and for a brief devotional word and 
prayer. 

Indoor picnics have their interest. One school provided 
for a basket lunch with a long picnic table, indoor croquet, 
patches of green on the floor, with "Keep Off the Grass"; a 
fish pond with the sign "No Fishing"; booths for pop corn 
and drinkables, stereopticon views of outdoor life, and an 
imitation of thunderstorm, with two members appearing 
in raincoats with water running from them. Another school 
planned a summer ice festival, including an Eskimo hut 
and family, a toboggan slide, boys in form of bears, roller 
skating, a snowball battle, stereopticon views of northern 
life, stories of Peary, Greely, Shackleton, and Steffanson; 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 225 

and as refreshments ice cream, sherbet, frozen pudding, or 
lemonade. 

(2) Other outings. — The Fourth of July outing has 
special possibilities in its emphasis of the national colors 
in decorations, badges, and flags. A barbecue or corn 
roast may be an attractive feature in conjunction with the 
luncheon. Watermelons may be stuck with toothpicks hav- 
ing red-white-and-blue tissue tassels. Suggested program 
points are athletic events, balloon ascensions, the reading 
of the Declaration of Independence, oratorical contests 
among the boys, the singing of national songs, and fire- 
works. 

A camp-fire outing, with picnic supper and games, is en- 
joyable. One or more fires are lighted, and stirring stories 
told (sometimes by one person or by several who have been 
previously notified) of heroes and great leaders. Songs 
are sung between the stories. A rousing general song by all 
will be the signal for the break-up. 

In town department or school lawn outings can be made 
attractive with games, lanterns, swings, hammocks, and 
chairs, and refreshments. The young men and seniors may 
drop in toward evening and give a fine social cast to the 
affair. For the children a lawn patriotic bubble party, with 
contests, has many possibilities. The soapsuds may be 
tinted in national colors. 

A Syrian day is suggested for a lawn or other outing, 
waiters and groups being dressed in Syrian costume and 
occupying rugs and tents. Signs indicating "Jacob's Well," 
"Cedar of Lebanon," "Abraham's Oak" add to the pic- 
turesque result. 

May parties, autumn-leaf parties, and daisy parties (after 
which the daisies are sent to some institution), nature and 
other hikes (with rewards to those finding the largest 
collection of wild flowers, ferns, or minerals), are among 
the interesting outdoor gatherings for school or class. 

(3) Indoor athletics. — The organization of Sunday-school 
athletic leagues in the leading cities of our country for 



226 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

baseball, basketball, tennis, and general athletic contests 
and competition between Sunday schools has demonstrated 
the interest and success of Sunday-school athletics. Saint 
Louis, Brooklyn, Chicago, Rock Island, Seattle, and other 
cities have thriving leagues. These promote better Sunday- 
school attendance and spirit. In some cases schools are 
sufficiently close to Y. M. C. A. buildings to avail them- 
selves of the gymnasium apparatus. In most cases they 
are not. 

(a) Gymnasium. — If a separate room is not available, 
a part of the Sunday-school room may be used as a gym- 
nasium between Sundays. The outfit may be purchased 
gradually and may include a mat, springboard, horse, vault- 
ing standards, baskets for basketball, punching bag, rings, 
dumbbells, Indian clubs, wands, horizontal bar, chest 
weights, and swing. A shower bath should be installed if 
possible. The gymnasium should be organized for boys 
under twelve to meet in the afternoons, those over that age 
to meet in the evenings. The young women of the school, 
especially those in business, should be given an evening, 
The fees should be light. Instruction books can be pro- 
cured. Instruction of the younger boys may be given by 
those older. An occasional exhibition drill will be an ob- 
jective for effort. Regular attendance at the Sunday school 
should be a requirement for membership in the gymnasium 
and other athletic privileges. It is of first importance that 
the committee of older men and women exercise careful 
supervision of the gymnasium, organizing monitors from 
among the gymnasium-class members. 

The physical director should be especially skillful in de- 
termining and correcting the physical deficiency of the class. 
This requires a very careful physical examination and the 
right adjustment of exercises. 

(b) Boys 1 room. — Any general outfit should include 
games, boys' books, boys' papers; magazines, such as 
Youth's Companion, Scientific American, American Boy, 
Science and Invention, Popular Mechanics; and some 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 227 

electrical and radio apparatus, lantern, and slides. 
Where facilities permit, material for wood-carving, pulp- 
molding, and basket-weaving will be found helpful. De- 
bates will interest the boys. An occasional social evening, 
with a program, should be planned for. Groups may be 
formed into a tramp club, history club, puzzle club, chess 
or checker club, museum club, natural-history club, travel 
club, or clubs for outdoor athletics. Boys may discuss 
or present papers on prominent inventors, generals, dis- 
coverers, and philanthropists. The boys' International 
Sunshine Club has three objectives: (1) The cultivation 
of manliness, good cheer, and kindly deeds; (2) the pay- 
ment of the weekly dues (a kind deed passed on); (3) a 
good time for oneself and others. A boys' Bible-study club 
may take up Bible heroes, geography (including names of 
mountains, rivers, seas, and cities) ; Bible flowers, animals, 
and trees. The collection of Bible coins and curiosities 
will be helpful. Bible-flower seeds can be obtained at Sun- 
day-school supply houses. 

(4) Outdoor athletics. — These may take the form of base- 
ball, handball, tennis, track athletics, walking clubs for 
girls, and also girls' "belle cycle," invented by the physical 
director of Wellesley College and uniting the best features 
of archery and basketball. 

The proper school committee should have supervision 
of it all, and a director of athletics should be in immediate 
charge. The local Y. M. C. A. will be glad to give any help 
possible in organization. A Sunday-school field should, if 
possible, be secured somewhere, possibly in conjunction 
with some other school. Teams may be arranged after the 
usual try-outs, to represent the school. Well-established 
rules should be adopted. Books of rules and suggestions 
may readily be obtained. 

Contests of various kinds may be arranged with other 
Sunday schools, and medals presented by prominent men. 
An occasional talk on fair play in sport, on great athletes 
who have been Christian men and who are to-day leaders 



228 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

in the world's betterment, will be appreciated. The ideal 
of a virile Christian manhood appeals to young people. 

(5) Summer camps. — In brief camping days a teacher 
can travel years into a boy's life and heart. The plan is 
growing in popularity. In brief it requires a tent or bun- 
galow or an old farmhouse near the water. The duties as 
to the fire, table, and cooking are apportioned to squads. 
Camp awards for best work have sometimes been given. 
Discipline characterizes such a camp, the day being sched- 
uled for sports, life-saving drills, exercise, nature study, 
work, worship, reading, and games. A discussion club pro- 
vides topics. The Bible topics touch the outdoor life. Story- 
telling, camp yells, singing, camp fires, concerts, stereop- 
ticon travel talks, and mock trials are some of the diver- 
sions. The summer home of the Sunday school for the 
poorer children of the school and community will have 
some of the features of the camp life for its interest. 

In the Pine Street Presbyterian Sunday School of Har- 
risburg, Pennsylvania, there is a "Boys Camp," which 
cares for the pupils in age relays of about two weeks, and 
including younger girls, younger boys, older boys, older 
girls, men, and married folks. These are in charge of de- 
partment leaders, the rates are reasonable, and week-end 
parties are provided for. This motto, from Stevenson, has 
been adopted: "Give us to awake with smiles. Give us to 
labor smiling; as the sun lightens the world, so may loving- 
kindness make glad this house." 

The Bushwick Avenue Methodist Episcopal Sunday 
School of Brooklyn has for many years maintained a summer 
camp, or home, with the help of the Christmas offerings of 
its departments. Poor children are maintained free, while 
the young people pay the actual cost. 

Camp sites should be selected with reference to water, 
drainage, swimming, and hike possibilities. A complete 
list of general and personal outfit required for boys' and 
girls' camps can be obtained from Y. M. C. A., Boy Scouts, 
and Camp Fire Girls organizations. 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 229 

(6) Entertainments. — These should be arranged by the 
committee for the season, possibly a month apart, and the 
course printed, and copies distributed to the school. The 
purpose should be to interest and inform, and not to make 
money. An offering or a small charge should cover the 
expenses. 

The entertainments may take the form of lectures, mo- 
tion pictures, a musical evening, projectoscope pictures, 
readings, experiments, tableaux, shadowgraphs, and Boy 
and Girl Scout and other drills. A good plan will be to 
make classes in turn responsible for an evening's enter- 
tainment in competition. If a class has some months to 
work it up, unique and interesting results will appear. A 
school should own its own stereopticon and motion-picture 
machine. Travel lectures, slides, and films on a wide va- 
riety of subjects can be rented from houses making this a 
business. 

In Chapter X there are indicated houses from which 
stereopticon views can be obtained. The Motion Picture 
Department of The Church School will furnish a list of 
recommended films and film exchanges, from which a wide 
variety of films adapted to church and Sunday-school use 
may be obtained. In the last few years the circulation of 
lists of films has been promoted by denominational mission- 
ary and Sunday-school headquarters. Write for lists. 

A "Harvest Home" entertainment will be interesting. 
Readings such as The Birds' Christmas Carol and The 
Christmas Carol are fascinating when well rendered. 

(7) Social plans. — (a) Workers' socials. — These may take 
the form of an informal monthly supper, where teachers 
and officers come together, each paying for his meal, the 
supper to be succeeded by school business and other items 
as suggested in Chapter XIII. Or it may be a quarterly, 
semiannual, or annual grouping of department workers or 
of all the school workers. The program for these gather- 
ings should be built about a theme. A school workers' 
song may be sung, or the departments may sing their songs, 



230 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

the school motto and goals may be emphasized, and the 
school colors may be used in decorating. 

(&) Parents' socials. — Invitations to these should be 
written or printed and signed by the social committee and 
the school or department superintendent or teacher. In 
the large school there is a gain in having the parents' so- 
cials by departments, that, during the evening, the officers 
may have opportunity to win the parents' cooperation in 
solving problems peculiar to the department. The pupils 
should have a part in the exercises. Teachers should use 
the social to seek closer acquaintance with parents of their 
pupils. Mothers will be glad to serve on the refreshment 
committee, to provide basket lunches or cake and coffee. 

(c) Class socials. — Usually the class social committee will 
care for details of these. The school social committee should 
seek to bring together classes of the right age for purposes 
of acquaintance and fellowship. 

If the affair becomes a federation banquet for all the or- 
ganized classes of a department, the classes should be made 
responsible for their own table decorations and food. A 
prize may be given for best table decorations. The classes 
on entrance should move around all the tables before being 
seated. There will be class songs, yells, stunts, brief ad- 
dresses from class presidents, and a federation song. 

(d) School socials. — These may consist of department or 
general school socials, according to the size of the school. 
If a school social, it would be well to select an occasion 
timing with some holiday, such as Halloween or a patriotic 
day. This will give opportunity for special decoration and 
program variety. The following are suggested as examples : 

An autumn social can be made attractive with oak, maple, 
and fir branches and leaves. Crepe paper will add to these 
effects. An autumn leaf may be pinned to the clothing of 
each attendant. 

The Thanksgiving social decorations will be in colonial 
colors. Admittance will be by a Scripture verse with the 
word "thanks" in it, and some vegetable gift. The pro- 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 231 

gram will bear upon the Puritan settlement and the first 
Thanksgiving. The refreshments will be served by young 
people dressed as Priscillas and John Aldens. 

A Chinese social will include Chinese lanterns, draperies, 
and decorations, the playing of Chinese games (see Young 
Hunters in China), and stereopticon pictures of China. 
Try to get a real Chinaman to make chop suey, cook rice, 
and arrange tea in Chinese cups, and girls dressed in Chi- 
nese dress to serve. 

A naval supper suggests a "passenger" gangplank at the 
entrance, a table steward to appoint places, the tooting of 
the whistle, the dinner, wireless messages at the table to 
the captain concerning the passengers and read aloud, the 
playing of ring toss, songs by sailor boys, and an illus- 
trated lecture on the Philippines, where the ship makes a 
stopover. 

A valentine social may precede or follow a Heart Sunday, 
on which kindliness to the lonely, the stranger, the dis- 
couraged and sick, may be emphasized in the school. In- 
vitations to the social will be in the form of hearts. At the 
door a heart, on which are a number and the names of 
rooms to which progress may be made for stunts, may be 
presented. The wearer of the card must find a lady with 
the corresponding number for supper or refreshments. 

A number social (say a "three social" or a "seven social") 
has many possibilities in the matter of invitations, admis- 
sions, groupings, trios, the number at table, contests, and 
Bible references. 

A "make yourself at home" evening suggests an invita- 
tion in the form of a key and keyhole, and personal choices 
of Victrola records. You help yourself in "eats" and in 
informal chat. 

A welcome social for new or prospective pupils requires 
the tagging of the guests, a welcome from class and de- 
partment officers, the school song, decorations, and slogan. 

In one school four teen-age classes gave a social recep- 
tion to the recent high-school graduates. Officers and teach- 



232 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

^rs were invited. Members of the welcoming classes read 
brief papers on "The School From Which There Is No 
Graduation," "The Life Worth While," "Things We Will 
Remember," etc. The guests were conducted to the four 
classrooms, which were decorated with class pennants, 
maps, drawings, books, mottoes, and pictures. In one room 
was a booth with refreshments. Several of the high-school 
visitors pledged Sunday-school membership that night. 

In one Junior Department social the ninety minutes 
were given to five periods: twenty to recitations and mu- 
sic; twenty to stories by a story-teller; twenty to reflecto- 
scope post cards; twenty to games; and ten to apple eating. 

One school, for a season, planned "fireside socials" at 
homes, care being taken that classes were rightly grouped, 
and that every class was included before the end of the 
season. 

The socials of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Camp 
Fire Girls will bring in the camping, nature, and service 
features of these organizations. 

Mother-and-daughter banquets have become a country- 
wide feature. No daughter may come without her mother, 
and vice versa. The program, of course, should be by the 
girls, with one good talk that will help to relate mother 
and daughter more intimately, and which will tie the moth- 
ers to Sunday-school interest and membership. 

Father-and-son banquets have the same general features 
as the mother-and-daughter affairs. Information as to both 
can be obtained from your Sunday-school board or from the 
International Sunday School Council (Chicago). 

Many a social committee will be grateful for A Year of 
Recreation, by Ethel Owen (The Abingdon Press), which 
provides a unique social evening for every month of the 
year. 

(8) Indoor Bible games for socials. — Most interesting 
evenings can be spent with Bible contests, games, and puz- 
zles. Card games on Bible books, commandments, and 
Beatitudes, and Bible drills may be readily obtained, Bible 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 233 

guessing contests will evoke much interest, questions being 
asked of either side (from a Bible-question list) on the 
more familiar parts of Scripture history and on the books 
of the Bible and Bible characters. Or the contest may be 
purely a spelling contest, the members spelling Bible names 
and places. Paper may be given out to see who can write 
down the longest list of Bible characters and Bible places^ 
A running story may be told to a pause, the name of a 
well-known Bible book, place, or person being guessed by 
the company to make the sense. Concealed Bible names of 
persons, places, or books may be guessed in such sentences 
as "My son Matt hews beams" or "My banjo broke." 

(9) Pageantry a?id dramatization. — These new forms of 
educational entertainment, as applied to the Sunday school, 
hold promise of great expansion in the line of pageantry 
(or pageantry combined with music), tableaux, and plays. 
The Bible itself furnishes rich material for this. In the 
last ten years tremendous strides have been made in visual- 
izing and teaching missions and religious truth through 
pageantry alone. Practically all missionary organizations 
are utilizing this method. The Methodist Centenary Ex- 
hibition at Columbus was a demonstration of the power of 
visualization of missions. Scores of pageants have been 
written and are now on the market and available for the 
small and large school. Professor H. Augustine Smith, of 
the Department of Pageantry, Music, and Religious Art of 
Boston University, has specialized in. religious pageantry. 
Lists of material may be obtained from The Church School 
(150 Fifth Avenue, New York City), the Missionary Edu- 
cation Movement (150 Fifth Avenue, New York City), and 
denominational, missionary, and other organizations, and 
adapted to the social conditions. They will prove a great 
asset to any school in awakening a new and vital interest 
in things worth while. 

2. Pupils' organizations. There is a time in the pupil's 
life when he wants to belong to something. The superin- 
tendent is wise who meets this inevitable desire with the 



234 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

suggestion of some organization that, while planning ade- 
quately for the physical and social life, gives due emphasis 
to the moral and religious element, and which becomes a 
means or stepping-stone for enlarged service. 

The writer will name some organizations that have stood 
the test of trial, and which have, as a rule, character-mak- 
ing objectives: 

(1) Religious organizations. — (a) The organized adult 
Bible class. — This is placed first because it so largely 
meets the requirements for the recreational life, while it 
has at the core personal evangelism, missions, and service 
growing out of Bible study. For this reason it is gradually 
replacing the brotherhood except where the latter becomes 
a Brotherhood Bible Class, with a weekly session for Bible 
study. 

The general plan of organization includes the teacher, 
president, secretary, and the membership, social, spiritual, 
and benevolent committees. The plan applies equally to 
men and women. An adult-Bible-class button, with white 
center and red rim, is the emblem of the class. A certifi- 
cate of organization of the denominational Sunday-school 
board should decorate the room. A library of choice books 
for adults should be kept in circulation. Leaflets explain- 
ing class plans should be obtained from denominational 
headquarters and the State Sunday-school association. 

(b) Organized young people's classes. — More than one 
hundred thousand such classes have been organized in re- 
cent years. The same general plan of organization as in 
the adult class may be followed. Pennants and mottoes will 
be of interest at this age. A class name and an objective 
for special giving and service should be chosen. As with 
the adult class a monthly meeting of the class is held for 
recreational and business purposes. 

(c) Epworth League, Christian Endeavor, Baptist Young 
People's Union. — Information as to all such denominational 
and interdenominational young people's organizations can 
be obtained from their headquarters. 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 235 

(d) Missionary organizations. — Practically all home and 
foreign missionary societies provide for graded missionary 
organizations that can be applied to the Sunday school. 
For instance, in the Methodist Episcopal Church plan there 
are the Little Light Bearers and Mothers' Jewels for the 
primary children, the Standard Bearers and Home Guards 
for the juniors, the King's Heralds for teen-age boys, and 
the Queen Esther Circle for teen-age girls. Each of these 
organizations has a course of study and a program of 
service. 

(2) Boys' organizations. — (a) The Brotherhood of Saint 
Andrew. — This is an organization of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, with a Junior and a Senior Department. "Its 
sole object is the spread of Christ's kingdom among boys." 
It has a rule of prayer and a rule of service. Its ages are 
from twelve to twenty; headquarters: Broad Exchange 
Building, Boston. 

(b) Junior Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip. — An in- 
terdenominational organization for junior and intermediate 
boys, similar to the Junior Department of the Brotherhood 
of Saint Andrew. "Its object shall be to extend Christ's 
kingdom among the youth." Athletics and social diversions 
are supplemented to its main objects of daily prayer for 
others and daily service in seeking to win others for the 
church. Headquarters: Hale Building, Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia. 

(c) Knights of King Arthur. — An interdenominational 
organization for boys twelve to fifteen years of age, center- 
ing about the legend of King Arthur and his court. There 
are three degrees — namely, page, esquire, knight — each, 
standing for certain attainments. There is a watchword 
and a regalia. Church membership is the final goal. Head- 
quarters: 600 West One Hundred and Twenty-second 
Street, New York City. 

(d) Sons of Daniel Boone. — This organization aims to 
promote outdoor life, to preserve American traditions, and 
to protect forests and game. It is useful as a junior organ- 



236 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ization for Boy Scouts. The pledge has eight articles. 
Headquarters: Flushing, Long Island, New York City. 

(e) Kappa Sigma Pi, or Knights of Saint Paul. — An or- 
ganization for boys ten years old and over, closely akin in 
general form to the Knights of King Arthur. It takes 
Saint Paul as the hero and has three degrees: the order of 
Jerusalem, the order of Damascus, and the order of Rome. 
It emphasizes Bible study, Christian confession, Chautauqua 
boys' work, and summer camps. Headquarters: Auburn 
Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

(/) The Boy Scouts of America. — An interdenominational 
and nonsectarian organization for boys and young men. 
"The aim of the Boy Scouts is to supplement the various 
existing agencies and to promote the ability in boys to do 
things for themselves and others." There are twelve Scout 
laws and a pledge. Three classes of Scouts are provided 
for: tenderfoot, second-class Scout, and first-class Scout. 
Loyalty to God, country, and one's religious duties is em- 
phasized. Address the Board of Sunday Schools, 58 East 
Washington Street, Chicago. 

(g) King's Messengers. — This is also called the Boys' 
Messenger service. It is for boys ten to fifteen years of 
age, selected one for each district into which the school 
neighborhood may be divided. They are provided with cap, 
button, and messenger record book. Members must not 
use tobacco or profane language, must be courteous, and 
must be regular attendants at Sunday school. A manager 
and captain are required. Their service includes (1) Home 
Department material, messages, and libraries delivered; 
(2) pastor's and superintendent's messages taken, cards of 
invitation distributed, birthday letters, Rally Day and 
other special-day invitations, notices to absent pupils and 
teachers, flowers and fruit to sick and shut-ins; (3) new 
families in neighborhood of messenger to be visited with 
cards of invitation and introduction to the school. Meet- 
ings at stated times should be held, reports received, with 
games, wholesome talks, a reading circle, an occasional so- 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 237 

cial time, and drill. Outdoor and other amusements may 
be planned for as needed. 

(3) Girls 1 organizations. — (a) Queens of Avalon. — Cor- 
responds to the Knights of King Arthur. It is for girls of 
adolescent years. Its object is "to cultivate Christian 
womanhood among its members and to render Christian 
service in the world." The three degrees are: pilgrim, 
lady, queen. Its plans may include social, literary, benevo- 
lent and mission work, as well as the cultivation of home 
tasks and womanly deportment. Headquarters: Knights of 
King Arthur, 600 West One Hundred and Twenty-second 
Street, New York City. 

(&) Camp Fire Girls. — This organization for girls cor- 
responds to the Boy Scout movement for boys. While not 
limited as to age, it is best adapted to teen-age girls. Its 
purpose is "to add the beauty of organization and the charm 
of romance to work, health, and play." The three ranks 
are: woodgatherer, firemaker, and torchbearer. The leader 
of the local camp fire is guardian. Honors are awarded 
for proficiency in seven crafts. Address the Board of Sun- 
day Schools, 58 East Washington Street, Chicago. 

(c) Girl Scouts. — This is a national nonsectarian organ- 
ization, with a motto, "Be prepared"; a slogan, "Do a good 
turn daily"; a promise, "On my honor I will try: to do my 
duty to God and my country; to help other people at all 
times; to obey the Scout laws." The Scout laws emphasize 
honor, loyalty, usefulness, friendliness, courtesy, humanity, 
obedience, cheerfulness, thrift, and purity. Headquarters: 
189 Lexington Avenue, New York City. 

(d) Girl Pioneers of America. — Aims to develop courage, 
uprightness, resourcefulness, health, usefulness, and whole- 
some character. Its watchword is "I can." Its pledge iSi 
"I will speak the truth at all times." It is nonsectarian. It 
is built on American history and ideals and majors on 
Americanization in all lines of work. Headquarters: 
Flushing, Long Island, New York City. 

(e) GirW Friendly Society in America. — An organization 



238 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

of the Protestant Episcopal Church to promote the asso- 
ciation of girls and young women for mutual help and 
protection. It is akin to the Big Brother Movement. It 
is a training in friendship in our relation to God, the home, 
and others. It emphasizes purity, duty to parents, faith- 
fulness, and thrift. 

(/) Bethany Girls. — An inspirational organization pro- 
moting Christian life and service. It is interdenomina- 
tional. Its # aim is "Every girl a spiritual center radiating 
the Master's purpose in her home, daily life, and church/' 
It has a badge and covenant. Headquarters: 504 Masonic 
Temple, Chicago. 

(4) Organizations for boys and girls. — (a) The Interna- 
tional Order of King's Daughters and Sons. — This is for 
ooth juniors and seniors. The requirements are loyalty 
to Christ and allegiance to the aims of the international 
order. The watchword of the order is "In His Name." The 
work of the circle is elastic in scope, depending on com- 
munity needs. Headquarters: 280 Madison Avenue, New 
York City. 

(b) Older Boys' and Girls 1 Conferences. — This is rather 
a movement than an organization. It consists of local, 
country, and State conferences of representatives of the 
Young People's Division of the Sunday School, with a well- 
defined program and with devotional training and social 
and athletic features. Its special purpose is to train young 
people to 100-per-cent service efficiency and to equip them as 
leaders in their local school and community. Reference 
has been made to the International Sunday School Coun- 
cil Training School for these leaders at Lake Geneva, 
Wisconsin, and at Lake Winnepesaukee, New Hampshire. 
Pull information as to these conferences, which are 
intended chiefly for young people of the Senior Depart- 
ment, can be obtained from the denominational head- 
quarters or those of the International Sunday School 
Council. 



RECREATION AND ORGANIZATIONS 239 

Bibliography 

Physical Health and Recreation for Girls, Moxcey. 
Social Plans for Young People, Reisner. 
A Year of Recreation, Owen. 
Camping for Boys, Gibson. 
Social Evenings, Wells. 
Boy Training, Alexander. 

Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gym- 
nasium, Bancroft. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The influence of organizations in holding the boys. 
"Ice breakers," games, and stunts for small groups. 

2. Recreation in character development. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. How shall the recreations and social life of the school 
be directed? 

2. What forms can the outdoor recreations take? 

3. What can be done in indoor recreations? 

4. What equipment is necessary for athletic work? 

5. What are lines of work for the King's Messenger 
Service? 

6. Name several organizations of interest to boys and 
young men. 

7. Name a few good organizations for girls. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 

Linking up the home to the program of the Sunday 
school is absolutely important from the standpoint of the 
Sunday school, the home, and the complete religious edu- 
cation of the child. The drive of the Sunday school and 
the church should be to make the homes of our pupils and 
the homes of which some day they will be the head Chris- 
tian homes. For the Christian family is at the foundation 
of the church, the community, the state, and a Christian 
civilization. 

It is patent that the Sunday school cannot be a substitute 
for the home and cannot compete with it as a place for the 
formation of character. Against the two hours that the 
church and the Sunday school control weekly, the public 
school has twenty-five hours, and the home, aside from sleep, 
eighty-five hours. The failure of the home is evidenced in 
the national crime bill of six billions. The Sunday school 
stands as the greatest single agency in correcting the home 
deficiency, but it is woefully handicapped in meeting this 
challenge by lack of vision, time, force, and equipment. 
The survey of the Religious Education Division of the In- 
terchurch World Movement showed twenty-four hours as 
the annual time investment of the average Protestant child 
in religious education, as against two hundred hours of the 
Catholic child and 335 hours of the Jewish child. 

In this chapter we shall indicate plans by which the 
Sunday school can cooperate with the home in the religious 
education of the child and can transfer to the home in a 
large way the responsibility for such education. 

1. Methods of reaching the home, (1) A letter to 
the parents when the pupil joins, pleasantly noting the ad- 
mission and asking for attendance and cooperation. (2) 

240 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 241 

A visit, shortly afterward, by superintendent or teacher, 
district visitor, pastor, or near-by church members. To 
bring about this result in the writer's school a fourfold 
carbon copy of the new pupil's record is taken, copies go- 
ing to the superintendent, pastor, teacher, and secretary, 
the superintendent sending a notice to the district visitor 
and a neighbor. (3) Special invitation to a school excur- 
sion and to special days. (4) Heartfelt home messages at 
Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. (5) Observance of 
Parents' or Mother's Day. (6) School and department par- 
ents' socials, at which the superintendent will have op- 
portunity to make a tactful plea for cooperation. (7) In- 
vitation to the graduation or promotion exercises. (8) 
Quarterly report of pupil's work. (9) Invitation to par- 
ents to attend the school and the teachers' meetings to be- 
come acquainted with the school's plan of work. These 
and other methods will be expanded in other paragraphs. 

2. House-to-house visitation. To ascertain the school's 
responsibility to the unattached as well as the attached 
homes of the community a complete house-to-house visita- 
tion should be arranged after a careful survey of the com- 
munity. While the work can be undertaken by an indi- 
vidual school, its best results in influencing the com- 
munity and in promoting denominational fellowship 
will come from a general canvass, in which all churches or 
schools unite. The plan involves organization for the visita- 
tion of every home in the city or community within one 
day, the exchange of reports, and the reference to each de- 
nomination for follow-up work of those families which have 
suggested a denominational preference. 

The usual result of such visitation, when wisely and per- 
sistently followed up, is a large ingathering to churches 
and schools and often a community religious revival. It 
could hardly fail to be so when such a card invitation is 
extended as this: 

We come to-day with a cordial invitation to you from 



242 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

every Sunday school and church in this community. If 
you attend the services in the church and Sunday school 
of your church regularly, all extend greetings; if you do 
not, all join in a most earnest request that you do so. We 
want to assure you a hearty welcome. 

This invitation is signed: "In behalf of all churches and 
Sunday schools in the community." 

It may be necessary in some cases for one Sunday school 
alone to conduct such visitation. Cards should be filled 
out showing those in each home not connected with the 
Sunday school and the department to which each would be 
naturally related. Membership will of course, where possi- 
ble, be pledged by the visitor. The cards gathered will be 
assorted and assigned for follow-up visitation by the pas- 
tor, visitors, or enrollment committee, or by the superin- 
tendent of departments. Visitors for this work will be 
chosen with reference to tact and enthusiasm. 

3. District visitor. Reference has been made to the 
district visitor. This may be a teacher or a member of the 
school (not a teacher) who will visit and report on new 
Sunday-school families in his district. These may be re- 
ported to the visitor by the superintendent when a pupil 
joins the school, the visitor reporting back on the card 
forms full information as a basis for further visitation; or 
the family may be discovered by the visitor and reported on 
his own initiative. In either case cordial relations will be 
established by the visitor. Members will be gathered for 
the Cradle Roll and Home Department or enrolled in other 
departments of the Sunday school and invited to attend 
church. The visiting report blank should indicate the de- 
partments, classes, names, and addresses of those visited, 
as well as the name of the visitor, the date of visitation, 
and special remarks. Blanks for membership in the Cradle 
Roll or Home Department should be attached to the report. 
Information as to other nonattending members of the 
household can be obtained. The district visitor may also 
look up absentees within his district where the teacher 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 243 

cannot visit, or where the King's Messengers are not or- 
ganized for such visitation. 

4. Securing home cooperation. (1) Through reports 
on pupil's work. — Many schools make it a point to send, 
monthly or quarterly, pupil's reports to the parents for 
signature and return for the school's permanent records. 
These reports cover such items as attendance, promptness, 
offering, church attendance, lesson study, home or manual 
work, with, in some cases, an average grade mark. They do 
not reach beyond the Intermediate Department. The re- 
sults of the plan indicate improvement in all of the depart- 
ments reported upon, and parents frequently join the Bible 
classes of such a school. 

(2) Through the superintendent's letters. — Usually the 
pastor will join in writing these home letters. They should 
be sent at various times of the year, and their subjects will 
depend on the occasion. At the beginning of the year they 
should bear upon the cordial cooperation of the parents in 
securing prompt and regular attendance, ten minutes daily 
attention to lesson preparation, or daily reading of the 
home Bible selections. At Decision Day they should ask 
the parents' prayerful cooperation in securing the Christian 
decision of their children. The reaction of this upon the 
parents themselves will be worth while. Other letters may 
bear upon special school occasions or may invite the par- 
ents to parents' socials. 

(3) Parents' church attendance. — In addition to the 
effort to secure the attendance of parents upon such days 
as Mother's or Parents' Day it will be very profitable to 
plan for specific invitations to the regular church services, 
setting goals for the attendance of fathers and of mothers. 
In my own church we have frequently set such goals and 
have asked for the help of the pupils in securing the pres- 
ence of parents. On one Sunday evening we made it a 
fathers' night, and more than five hundred fathers were in 
attendance. Then five hundred mothers were prevailed 
upon to attend a mothers' service. At the morning church 



244 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

service a nursery should be established to care for the 
babies or children while the mothers are in the service. 

(4) Cards of suggestions. — One school sent to the homes 
a card entitled "How Your Home Can Help." It reads: 

Forming Christian character and intelligence is great 
work. We can do it best by working together. These are 
things your home can do to help: (a) See to it that the 
pupil has a definite place to keep the materials for the 
school work, (b) Help the pupil to maintain a regular 
time for home work, (c) Get the pupil started for school 
on time, with all materials needed for the Sunday's work. 
(d) Get acquainted with the teacher to whom you are in- 
trusting the religious instruction of your children, (e) 
Come and encourage them in their work for you and yours 
by your interest and presence. (/) Come with your young 
people and help them form the wholesome habit of regular 
church attendance. (g) Read the Bible and pray with 
your children. (7i) Speak enthusiastically of religious prin- 
ciples and set them an example of religious faith. 

(5) Departmental parents 9 socials. — These give a choice 
opportunity of relating parents to the officers and depart- 
mental teachers and to get a close-up view of the age prob- 
lem, which is common to parent and teacher. The young 
people (if it is an intermediate or senior parents' social) 
will be glad to help in both the program and serving. Pas- 
tor and superintendent may win sympathy and help for the 
officers and teachers by presenting school problems. An 
exhibit of departmental work may be made, and a depart- 
mental library of suggestive and helpful books be made 
available for the parents' reading. Such books as Educa- 
tion by Plays and Games, Johnson ; and Play Life in the 
First Eight Years, Palmer, will be especially helpful to 
parents of younger children. Games appropriate to the 
age may be suggested to the parents at the meeting or by 
circular or card. 

(6) Mother-and-daughter and father-and~son banquets. — ■ 
These have been referred to. They should be for parents 
of pupils twelve and over. A theme used at one mother* 






THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 245 

and-daughter banquet was ''Working Together for the 
Best." After prayer and dinner there were toasts: "Our 
Girls," by a mother; "Mother," by a girl. Then came five- 
minute talks by both girls and mothers on "The Best Men- 
tally"; "The Best Physically"; "The Best Religiously"; 
"The Best Socially"; "The All-Round Girl." Then there 
was a short address on "The American Home," by a mother. 
"Working Together for the Best" and "The Challenge of 
the Present Day to Womanhood" are suggested topics. 

(7) Instructional classes. — If you have a competent 
woman, establish a class or classes in cooking, sewing, and 
home management for teen-age girls. Invite mothers or 
parents for an occasional exhibit of the girls' proficiency. 

(8) Other ways. — The school's employment department 
will be found a fine link between home and school. A father 
came to our school one Sunday saying, "I don't take much 
stock in this pious business, but you folks got my boy a job 
last week, and I thought I would come and look you over." 
To care for the children's needs in a summer home or camp 
will be sure to help home cooperation. Courses of study 
for the home, parents' libraries, Mother's Day, and other 
special features will be treated later. 

5. Helping the parents in home religion. (1) The 
family altar. — Through the Home Department, the use of 
the daily home Bible readings, and through parents', 
fathers', or mothers' classes and gatherings the Sunday 
school is in a peculiarly favorable position to cooperate 
with the pastor in realizing as a goal "the family altar (or 
family worship) in every home." Some churches institute 
campaigns to carry this into effect, presenting the impor- 
tance of the plan in the church service, securing pledges 
from members, and enlisting the officiary of the church in 
a visitation of all church homes to attain such pledges. In 
our own church we used the pledge: 

I hereby accept membership in this league [Family Altar 
League] and will do what I can to extend its benefits to 
others. Its duties, I understand, are as follows: As a mem- 



246 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ber of a family circle I will endeavor to have read aloud 
daily in the presence of my family some portion of the 
Bible. This daily reading is to be followed by, at least, 
the Lord's Prayer. (If single, I pledge the above as part 
of my private devotions.) 

William H. Ridgeway, at Coatesville, Pennsylvania, fol- 
lowed this plan in introducing family worship in hundreds 
of the homes of his pupils. He furnished each week a card 
with the home readings for each day of the week, this card 
to be marked and returned. A reward was given for one 
year's adherence to the plan. 

The Family Worship League covenant promoted by the 
Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
reads: 

Believing that the opportunity and the responsibility of 
the family for forming Christian character are of the ut- 
most importance, our family hereby agrees to observe 
family worship regularly and to give the vital themes of 
religion a fair share of consideration in our conversation 
and reading. We further agree to cooperate with all 
agencies seeking to vitalize religious observance in the 
homes of the community. 

For the help of those pledged are suggested such books as 
Morning Prayers for Home Worship, Skene; Service and 
Prayers for Church and Home, Thirkield; The Busy Man's 
Bible, Dudley; The Throne of Grace, Quayle; A Book of 
Family Worship (Presbyterian Board) ; Week-Day Prayers, 
Reisner; At Mother's Knee, Davis; Bible Reading and Re- 
ligious Education in the Family, is published by the Ameri- 
can Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia. 

Participation by the children in the family worship 
should be suggested. Young children especially should be 
encouraged to ask questions. Meanings should be made 
clear. Bible pictures may be introduced to illustrate the 
story. Children should share in the reading. Scripture 
should be repeated by the family in unison. Favorite 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 247 

verses should be called for, as well as verses containing im- 
portant words, such as "love" and "hope." The alphabetical- 
verse plan may be followed. Pivotal passages, such as in 
Scripture Memory Work (Fleming H. Revell Company), 
should be committed and called for. Hymns should be sung 
and repeated from memory. A suggestive pamphlet, Re- 
ligious Education in the Family, is published by the Ameri- 
can Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia. 

(fi) Religious material. — This will consist of pictures, 
forms of grace, and prayers (see Grace Before Meat, 
Wells), daily home Bible readings, library, magazines, and 
songs. Many choice suggestions on these lines will be 
found in Religious Education in the Family, Cope, includ- 
ing a library and list of pictures, referred to above. In our 
school we distributed to all families that agreed to frame 
them pictures of "Washington at Prayer at Valley Forge." 
We also gave, to be hung up in the home, "Christ Is the 
Head of This House." Forms of grace and children's morn- 
ing and evening prayers, printed on cardboard, were given 
to mothers of children in the Beginners' and Primary De- 
partments. In Pleasant Sunday Afternoons for the Chil- 
dren, Faris, will be found a wealth of suggestions for happy 
Sundays in the home. 

(3) Parents' Horary. — The list of books applicable to the 
devotional life of the home and to the general efficiency of 
the home in the field of religious education and of helpful 
home reading is a very long one and is being added to con- 
stantly. Quite a long list may be found in Sunday School 
Officers' Manual, Brown, Chapter XIV. The Parent and the 
Child, Cope; and Parents and Their Children, Moxcey, are 
good recent contributions to this subject. 

6. The Parents' Department of the school. This is 
recognized as an activity within the Adult Division of the 
Sunday school or as a section of it. Sometimes this sec- 
tion, if of mothers' classes, is called the Mothers' Depart- 
ment and is separately supervised. Occasionally you will 
find a fathers' class, but ordinarily the fathers are enrolled 



248 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

in the men's classes. The Parents 9 Department of the Sun- 
day School, St. John (Connecticut State Sunday School 
Association) and The Parents' Department (New York 
State Sunday School Association, Albany, New York) con- 
tain full suggestions as to this department. 

(1) Promoting the department. — Suggestions for build- 
ing the department are: (a) Appoint a superintendent of 
parents' work, (b) Have the pastor assign all parents who 
are church members to some class in this department. 

(c) Get a list of school parents, advise them of the organ- 
ization of this department, and invite them to membership. 

(d) Get a group of mothers into competition with a group 
of fathers for a membership drive, (e) Make a special 
effort with parents of children in the Cradle Roll, Begin- 
ners' and Primary Departments. These parents are more 
susceptible to the appeal and often come to the school with 
the younger children. (/) Encourage mixed classes of 
young fathers and mothers, (g) Wherever possible group 
parents according to the departmental age of their children 
in order to study together the problems nearest to them. 
This can be accomplished by beginning the classes with 
groups of Cradle Roll, Beginners', and Primary Department 
parents and working then for groups of parents of pupils 
in each of the other departments. 

(2) Lessons for the classes. — Parents' courses, or courses 
for parents' classes, are now in process of production. They 
are designed for the special help of teachers, parents, and 
the home. They treat such topics as perplexities of the 
modern home; the home atmosphere; building strong 
bodies; forming right habits; the child at work; doing for 
others; training the devotional life; the child and the church. 
The Abingdon Press (New York City) publishes an "Amer- 
ican Home Series" — thirty-four pamphlets adaptable for 
Sunday or week-day discussion, including such vital themes 
as "The Nation's Challenge to the Home"; "The Roots of 
Disposition and Character"; "First Steps in Character"; 
"The Religious Nurture of a Little Child"; "Sunday in the 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 249 

Home"; "Youth's Outlook Upon Life"; "Sex Discipline for 
Boys in the Home." 

(3) Activities of parents 9 classes. — These classes may 
have their own individual social and service plans or may 
combine for these. Such classes, if of mothers, meet 
monthly, organize the usual committees, but take as a serv- 
ice objective a ministry to motherhood in their neighbor- 
hood or in this or other lands. They naturally will seek 
to help nurseries, hospitals, orphanages, and summer camps 
or homes for children, and will promote the social better- 
ment of their community in the interest of the protection of 
childhood. Fathers' classes may take objectives distinctly 
for men. 

(4) General parents' socials. — The Parents' Department 
may promote an occasional social general get-together of 
all parents, whether members of the classes or not. That 
will be a good opportunity to explain the plans and purposes 
of the classes and enlist members. 

(5) What the Parents' Department seeks. — A pamphlet 
published by the New York State Sunday School Associa- 
tion gives as the objectives of the department: (a) the 
study of the children by their parents one half hour, each 
.day (through play, story-telling, etc.); (b) the reading of 
one good parents' book each year; (c) attendance upon a 
weekly class and a monthly club meeting (a parents' prob- 
lem class) ; (d) Parents' Day observed in the churches; 
(e) sex instruction of children by their parents or those 
competent, appointed by parents; (/) moral and religious 
instruction given to children by their parents; (g) parents' 
department library in every school; (h) promoting parents' 
parliaments in the larger cities and communities. 

7. Mothers' or parents' association. This is some- 
times called the parent-teacher association. It is an or- 
ganization of mothers or parents with the officers and teach- 
ers of the school or of those departments in which the par- 
ents are interested. It does not require that the parents 
shall be members of Sunday-school classes, although its 



250 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

strength will come from those parents who are attending 
members of the school. 

Such associations have a recognized plan as a cooperative 
influence in public-school work. They are invaluable as a 
factor in the Sunday-school field. As suggested, such asso- 
ciations may be formed strictly on departmental lines or 
they may be interdepartmental organizations. As the prob- 
lems of the younger children are largely the same, it has 
been found advisable to organize first the mothers or par- 
ents of children in the Cradle Roll, Beginners', and Pri- 
mary Departments into one association; and later, if de- 
sirable, to include other departments. Two associations — 
one of parents of pupils in the Children's Division and one 
of parents of teen-age young people — would be a more nor- 
mal arrangement because of the diversity of interests. For 
the smaller school one parents' association may be more 
desirable. 

The association should be officered by teachers and par- 
ents, and the committee organization should provide for 
program, hospitality, education, membership, and service. 
It has been found better to meet the expenses through 
monthly offerings than by membership dues. These should 
be sufficient to cover refreshments and additions to the 
mothers' library. 

As to time for the meeting a weekly afternoon meeting 
of mothers for a mothers' study section has attractive fea- 
tures: to discuss subjects of mutual interest; to take up 
some book for special study, such as Child Nature and Child 
Nurture, St. John. Mothers may bring their sewing and 
listen while one of the number reads a chapter from the 
book under study. 

For the monthly meeting it is customary to select a topic 
for each meeting, this to be presented by some teacher, 
mother, or expert. A series of topics may be planned for a 
year ahead and printed, together with a text for the meet- 
ing, and setting forth other features as well, and planning 
at least one or two gatherings to which the fathers are to 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 251 

be invited. Among such topics may be suggested the fol- 
lowing: "Confidence Between Children and Parents," "Sun- 
day Amusements," "Children's Rights," "Home Courtesy," 
"The Religious Training of Children," "How May We Fos- 
ter the Spirit of Service in the Home?" "Cultivating Rever- 
ence in the Home," "How Shall I Punish My Child?" 
"Ought Mothers to Urge Their Children to Join the 
Church?" "The Religion of a Child," "Bedtime-Hour and 
Cradle Songs," and "Books in the Home and How to Use 
Them." Musical features, a good reading, a game, and 
simple refreshments will complete an enjoyable evening. 

Such an association should keep in touch with similar or- 
ganizations, with the National Congress of Mothers' Clubs 
(Washington, D. C.) and should have some local and other 
child-welfare objective. It should provide pictures for 
decoration of the Sunday-school rooms, cooperate in the 
Christmas and other special-day plans of the school, and 
keep in circulation among the mothers an effective mothers' 
library and mothers' magazines. 

From such a mothers' or parents' association recruits 
should come for the Sunday classes, and teachers for Sun- 
day-school classes should be obtained. The Sunday-school 
officers and teachers will find many an opportunity, through 
direct address and through the personal contacts of the 
meetings, to bind home and school for effective cooperation 
in the better religious training of the children. 

8. The Home Extension Department. This is or- 
dinarily called the Home Department. Its organization and 
activities are suggested under Chapter VII. Some tested 
plans may be suggested which have made this department 
a home-reaching and school and church-attaching ministry. 
The Northfield Sunday School has a training class for Home 
Department visitors in two sections — "beginners" and "ad- 
vanced visitors." At the Baptist Temple Sunday School 
(Los Angeles) Home Department reception the platform 
was decorated with white and purple flowers and the Home 
Department colors. Across the piano the Home Department 



252 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

pennant was thrown. Iris, calla lilies, violets, and ferns 
were used. Some of the circles wore their badges or class 
colors. Circle 5 wore a red carnation and fern; Circle 8, 
orange and green Dutch sunbonnets; Circle 9 wore purple 
tissue-paper "nines" on the right arm. The Home Depart- 
ment visitors wore tissue-paper caps, with purple bands 
across the front. Each circle in turn made a special con- 
tribution to the program. The Home Department of the 
Richardson Memorial Church, Philadelphia, on boosting its 
membership from 405 to 528, brought its members together 
for a social rally, listened to an address, chose captains for 
the contesting sides (the "whites'' and the "blues"), and 
went into the highways and byways for its new members. 

The Home Department of the First Methodist Sunday 
School of Los Angeles, with more than a thousand members, 
calls together its visitors once a quarter to talk over the 
work, to solve problems, and to coordinate and strengthen 
its service. It holds an annual social and an annual Home 
Department picnic, the members going by autos. Another 
Home Department adopted the plan of a monthly meeting 
and program to stir interest, beginning its campaign with 
a Sunday-evening Home Department church service. Dur- 
ing the year the monthly features included an address on 
"Why Study the Bible?" by a prominent business man; a 
stereopticon lecture on the Holy Land; a debate between 
Home Department and adult-class members on the subject 
"Which is the most important element of a nation's life — 
education or religion?" and an all-church Bible class, with 
four hundred present, conducted by a professor in a church 
college. 

In the Broad Street Baptist Sunday School, Washington, 
Pennsylvania, the year's record of a department of 126 
included business meetings of the officers, 188 visits to sick 
and shut-ins made by the welfare committee, eight families 
helped with clothing and provisions, nine prayer meetings 
held. 

The Saint John's Sunday School of Evansville, Indiana, 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 253 

with six hundred Home Department members, promotes 
district social meetings of members at homes of the visitors, 
a quarterly review of the lessons at the church, an annual 
supper, sustained for one month a native worker in India, 
makes souvenirs for the Eastertime school celebration, 
cares for the visitation of the Cradle Roll Department, and 
is present in a body at all special-day services of the Sunday 
school. The superintendent of one department sends a 
letter of welcome to each new member, inclosing material 
and urging personal work for new members. The live 
Home Department of the Warburton Avenue Baptist Church 
of Yonkers, New York, makes much of its annual social as 
a community affair, inviting present and prospective mem- 
bers and enlisting the mayor and other leaders as speakers. 

9. The teacher and the home. Parents will always 
receive gratefully the visit of a Sunday-school teacher. Few 
instances can be recorded to the contrary. 

A good plan is to push a general visitation of all the 
homes of the school by the teachers within a fixed period, 
the teachers to report back to the superintendent or com- 
mittee the date of the visit and any facts of special interest. 
This plan has been worked with large success. It helps 
solve the absentee, problem, corrects addresses, strengthens 
the ties between teacher and home, brings in new members, 
and unites all for results. Nothing is more vital than the 
talk between teacher and parent concerning the child; and 
if both can kneel in prayer for God's blessing upon home 
and pupil, a great advance has been made. The teacher's 
letters to both parents and child are only second in value. 
Helpful books may be given, suggested, or lent. Invitations 
to join a parents' class may be extended. The mother may 
be invited occasionally to a class social. Family worship 
may be suggested and encouraged by the teacher through 
the daily-home-Bible-reading plan. 

10. The pastor and the home. The home of the non- 
Christian parent can most easily be reached by the pastor 
through the child. One pastor received three hundred new 



254 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

members into his church in one year from parents of chil- 
dren on the big Cradle Roll list of that church by specializ- 
ing on the visitation of those homes. Under the tactful 
guidance by that pastor, the "little child" led those parents 
straight to Christ and the church. The live pastor can find 
results beyond his thinking in striving to reach non-Chris- 
tian parents. A few additional plans may be suggested. 

(1) The pastor should carry with him, in his calls upon 
both church members and nonchurch members, cards for 
enrollment in various departments of the Sunday school, 
Cradle Roll, Home Department, Parents' Department, or 
parents' club or association. (2) He should plan for three 
or four outstanding parents' days during the year, includ- 
ing, of course, Mother's or Parents' Day and a "home ex- 
tension day," utilizing these occasions to enlist for family 
worship and membership in some department of the school. 
(3) He should plan a special visitation of all church homes 
by his official board and others to win every church member 
for the Family Worship League. (4) In the church service 
he should plan for the children as well as the adults through 
a five- or ten-minute talk to the children. Parents will be 
drawn to listen to these talks. Material for such talks can 
be found in Little Ten Minutes, Bagley; The Junior Congre- 
gation, Farrar; Talks to the King's Children, Stall; Chil- 
dren's Story-Sermons, Kerr; What I Tell My Junior Con- 
gregation, Bennett; Five-Minute Sermons to Children, Arm- 
strong; and Finding Out God's Secrets, McKay. (5) He 
should set up goals for the attendance of fathers and 
mothers at the church service, through announcement, ad- 
vertisement, and the children. 

11. The superintendent and the home. The superin- 
tendent's special relation to the home is suggested in prac- 
tically every chapter of this book. His best work for the 
home can be accomplished in stimulating and training 
workers to use those home opportunities and contacts 
which come to every officer and teacher of his school. His 
own personal messages to pupils and parents in connection 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE HOME 255 

with special school occasions are helpful, as are his general 
appeal to the home and community through the press and 
attractive cards and posters. If he can find time for per- 
sonal home visitation as suggested in Chapter XXIV he 
will have forged links that are invaluable. 

Bibliography 

The Christian Home, Faris. 

The Parent and the Child, Cope. 

Religious Education in the Family, Cope. 

Child Nature and Child Nurture, St. John. 

The Parents' Department of the Sunday School, St. John. 

Religious Education in the Home, Folsom. 

How to Teach Religion, Betts. 

The Training of Parents, Abbott. 

Parents and Their Children, Moxcey. 

Topic for Special Study 
The element of religion in the average American home. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. Name five special methods of reaching the home. 

2. What is the best plan for a general community visita- 
tion? 

3. How can we enlist parents for Sunday-school attend- 
ance? 

4. How can the family altar be best introduced into the 
home? 

5. How may we get parents to attend church? 

6. What is the best plan for interesting the non-Christian 
parent in the school? 

7. How can the pastor promote Sunday-school interest 
in the home? 

8. Name plans for parents' conferences. 

9. How can the teacher bind home and school? 



CHAPTER XVII 
THE WEEK-DAY PROGRAM 

In this chapter we shall discuss various forms of the 
school's activities between Sundays and particularly the 
week-day and vacation church school, which is becoming 
more and more an accepted factor in rounding out the edu- 
cational program of the church. 

The week-day program as it relates to the recreational 
life is quite fully treated in Chapter XV. That same chap- 
ter deals with various organizations having to do with 
the religious, recreational, and expressional life of the 
pupil, and which function principally during the week, or 
whose meetings are usually held between Sundays. The 
school's expressional life in the field of social service will 
be treated in Chapter XX. 

1. Parades. The Sunday-school parade has become an 
annual feature in many communities in both America and 
other countries. The idea had its origin, probably, in 
Brooklyn, where the one-hundredth anniversary of the 
Brooklyn Sunday School Union will soon be held. More 
than one hundred thousand persons in twenty divisions 
march through the avenues and in the parks. The schools 
feature floats, banners, Maypoles, flags of all nations, and 
incidents of a church and national character. The officials 
of the city, State, and Nation review the parade. Special 
anniversary songs are prepared year by year and sung in 
the schools and parks. 

In another city the parade took the form of denomina- 
tional divisions, each division having its own color, its 
own pageant and missionary features. Awards were given 
to the schools with best floats. These parades call the at- 

256 






THE WEEK-DAY PROGRAM 257 

tention of the community to the work of the Sunday school, 
secure publicity for the cause, interest the attendance of 
the pupils, and enlist new members. 

2. Pageantry. Reference has already been made to 
this in Chapter XV. Lists of available pageants for the 
community, as well as the local school, may be obtained 
from The Church School (150 Fifth Avenue, New York City) 
and the Missionary Education Movement (150 Fifth Avenue, 
New York City). 

3. Missionary dramatics. Making Missions Real is the 
title of a book (The Abingdon Press) which presents for 
teen-age groups missionary work in Africa, China, India, 
and other countries, as well as Americanization, and empha- 
sizes medical missions and stewardship. In Missionary 
Education for Home and School, Diffendorfer, there are 
some good suggestions for this new field of visualization of 
the gospel enterprise, so that it may truly educate and 
broaden the sympathies of the pupils. In The Bankside 
Costume Book for Children (Saalfield Publishing Company, 
Akron, Ohio) are many illustrations of costumes, covering 
Greek and Roman, thirteenth to seventeenth century, and 
ecclesiastical dress, armor, weapons, etc. The missionary 
societies, home and foreign, can also supply suggestions. 

4. Exhibits. (1) Handwork, — In Chapter VIII the man- 
ual work of the school is outlined. At least annually, and 
possibly quarterly, parents and the community should be 
invited to inspect the graded handwork of the school — 
drawings, lesson expression, map modeling; sand-table, note- 
book and scrapbook work; designing for notebook covers, 
and class and departmental insignia. This should be ar- 
ranged, if possible, in the department rooms, in classrooms, 
or in sections of the main room. Where there is a daily 
vacation Bible school or a week-day school of the church, 
the exhibit may include sewing, woodwork, burnt wood, 
reed-work, chair caning, and toy making. Pupils should 
explain the exhibit to visitors. 

(2) Missionary exhibits. — These may include handwork 



258 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

material of a missionary character, especially material fol- 
lowing the familiar models referred to, in Chapter VIII. 

The writer's school had two special exhibits that drew 
thousands over a period of several days. One of these was 
the story of Palestine, showing the wall of a city, a typical 
gate and shops and attendants, a well, a model of Jerusa- 
lem, wedding and funeral processions, and women grind- 
ing the corn. On another occasion classes and societies 
became separately responsible for parts of a missionary 
exhibit. The home-mission work was exhibited through a 
hut in the Southland, with pickaninnies ; an Indian tepee 
and all Indian appurtenances, with boys dressed in Indian 
dress; a model of the school's summer home, with grounds 
and water. For the foreign work the missionary fields of 
India, China, Japan, etc., were represented by a Japanese 
tea garden, Chinese curios, lanterns, and costumes, and an 
Indian home scene. The work accomplished by the classes 
and societies in supporting students or of a general char- 
acter was told by costumed attendants. Missionary ad- 
dresses, reports, tableaux, and the stereopticon deepened the 
impressions. A host of folks were interested, and those who 
took part were made more enthusiastic for the cause of 
missions. 

5. Week-day religious instruction. Every true super- 
intendent will admit that the time given by the Sunday 
school to its educational task is inadequate, and that it 
should be supplemented by some regular week-day instruc- 
tion. The necessity for some workable plan that will more 
thoroughly ground the young in religious knowledge and 
character is potent to workers and leaders. Out of this 
need has come extensive experimentation in recent years 
in forms of week-day schools for religious instruction. All 
this experience, with suggestions for organization, pro- 
grams, and curriculum, in connection with these schools, 
is presented in The Week-Day Church School, by H.'F. Cope 
(George H. Doran Company) ; and a whole new series of 
textbooks for the use of such schools has been produced 



THE WEEK-DAY PROGRAM 259 

under the title "Abingdon Religious Education Texts" 
(The Abingdon Press). 

The question that vitally concerns the superintendent 
and pastor in connection with these schools is their rela- 
tion to the present Sunday-school system. Are these schools 
to be correlated with the Sunday school as we know it or 
to be independent of it and controlled by community lead- 
ers, who may not be in full sympathy with present-day 
Sunday-school ideals and objectives? Both sides of the case 
are quite fully discussed in Dr. Cope's book. 

While in this new movement there are many strong edu- 
cational leaders who stand for the evangelical position and 
who are sincerely anxious to extend the work and influence 
of the Sunday school through more thorough week-day 
instruction, there are also those who are inclined to belittle 
the vast work of the Sunday school in its educational and 
character-forming service through all these years, and who 
would be glad to substitute for the Sunday school a system 
of week-day schools of religious instruction, under the 
direction of community leaders and without emphasis upon 
the cardinal beliefs of the Christian church. 

Having said this, I want to be clearly understood as ad- 
vocating the extension of religious instruction in a large 
way into the week, under such direction as shall coordinate 
it with the work of the Sunday school and shall safeguard 
it as to its evangelical teachings. In my own church for 
several years past we have had such a week-day school di- 
rected by one of the teachers of my Sunday school, who is 
also a public-school teacher, the school being one of a series 
promoted by the Protestant Teachers' Association of New 
York City. 

Before initiating any plan for week-day instruction a 
careful study of all plans that have stood the test of time 
should be made by the committee on religious instruction 
of the local church. I should say, too, that that committee 
should also study its own church and Sunday-school pro- 
gram of education and make sure that the educational pro- 



260 THE SUPERINTENDENT 



grams of the various organizations of the local church are 
so coordinated and developed that the child has a unified 
and not a confused impression of the educational processes 
of his church. 

With this accomplished the committee can, in the light 
of the best standards, determine what is now missing in 
the educational content and teaching of its membership and 
outline its course for week-day instruction. 

It will be impossible here to indicate in detail the plans 
of week-day schools which have been pursued at many 
points. The cities in which these schools have been carried 
on include Van Wert, Ohio; Batavia, Illinois; Corydon, 
Iowa; Rochester, New York; Toledo, Ohio; Gary, Indiana; 
Evanston, Illinois; Oak Park, Illinois; Baltimore, Mary- 
land; Grand Rapids, Michigan; New York City; and 
Elmira, New York. The writer can suggest some of the 
general characteristics of these schools: 

(1) Classification of schools. — This may be indicated by 
the directing responsible body. Schools may be organized 
by: 

(a) Individual churches. 

(&) Churches in cooperation: 

(1) Local church federations. 

(2) Local church group organizations, arranged es- 
pecially for this purpose. 

(3) Simple, unorganized cooperation among churches. 

(c) Community boards, on a cooperative basis. 

(d) Special outside agencies, denominational or educa- 
tional. 

There are types existing representative of each of these 
forms. 

(2) Organization for direction. — For the individual 
church the pastor or the church committee on religious 
instruction should be the responsible agency; for the 
churches in cooperation a community board of religious 
education, made up of the pastors and one or two laymen 
from each church (which may include women) or the re- 



. 



THE WEEK-DAY PROGRAM 261 

ligious education committee of the church federation, 
sometimes in cooperation with the local Sunday-school 
association. 

When the grouping includes church and community 
agencies, the organization is usually termed "the com- 
munity council of religious education." This may be repre- 
sentative of the churches primarily but includes also those 
who represent other community interests. 

In the main the organizations thus far found effective 
have represented the voice of the churches. 

(3) Relationship to public-school authorities. — After es- 
tablishing the question of time need the directing groups 
come into conference with the local educational board or 
committee and endeavor to arrange for such a rearrange- 
ment of the school schedule as will permit the release of 
the children and young people for several week-day periods. 
The experience has been that the school authorities have 
been most cordial in their cooperation with those who have 
made such requests. 

(4) Time. — This has varied greatly. From one to two 
and one half hours weekly is the range. When the time 
has been given out of the school schedule, it usually con- 
sists of two periods of one half hour each or a little more. 
In one instance, upon the united request of Protestants, 
Catholics, and Jews, one whole day weekly was arranged. 
Where it has been impossible to secure time out of the 
school schedule, as at Evanston, the time may be from 
eight-fifteen to eight-forty-five daily. In another case from 
four or four-fifteen to five, several days a week, was the 
period. 

(5) Place. — In a few instances the public-school buildings 
have been used with pay where the community was pre- 
dominantly Protestant. Objection is found to this plan 
in most communities, and the near-by churches are usually 
used where classroom facilities permit. In some cases 
special buildings are constructed. 

(6) Staff. — This usually consists of Christian public- 



262 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

school teachers. Occasionally the pastor is the teacher. 
These teachers are usually paid, sometimes by the hour. 
sometimes by the day. The school authorities often arrange 
the dismissal of pupils for religious instruction in class 
relays, so that it is possible for one teacher to be employed 
for successive periods throughout the day. Where there is 
more than one school, or even one school with a series of 
classes, a supervisor of instruction is appointed to co- 
ordinate instruction, arrange programs and examinations, 
and check up the teaching work. Sometimes helpers to 
teachers may serve without pay. 

(7) Support. — This is provided through an annual item 
in the church budgets, through fees from parents, and by 
interested people in the community. 

(8) Membership and attendance. — Where the public- 
school authorities work in close cooperation with the di- 
rectors, it is often possible to secure a practically unani- 
mous attendance of the public-school pupils upon the week- 
day school. And in several instances 90 per cent of the 
public-school enrollment has been in such attendance. In 
one city 10 per cent of the week-day pupils were not pre- 
viously attending Sunday school, and in the city of Toledo 
the proportion was 40 per cent out of a total of 2,800. In 
communities like Evanston and Oak Park the attendance 
on the week-day schools ran from five hundred to one 
thousand. 

Program. — This covers worship, instruction, and ex- 
pression. It includes Bible-drill work, hymn and Scripture 
memorization, handwork, notebook work and decoration, 
training for church membership, and graded Bible in- 
struction. In one school the children were taught how to 
pray, and on a Saturday morning the children participated 
in a complete church service, in which they had major 
parts. 

(10) Curriculum. — In some instances this is correlated 
with that of the Sunday school. Usually it is not so related. 
When pupils are doing geography work in school, Bible 



THE WEEK-DAY PROGRAM 263 

geography is of course taken up in the week-day school. 
Where history is tauglit, Bible history is emphasized. 

The material for the curriculum is drawn from a num- 
ber of sources, including the ''Abingdon Religious Educa- 
tion Texts," the "Westminster" and "Keystone Departmen- 
tal Graded Series,"' the "International Graded Series," the 
"Christian Nurture Series" (Episcopal), the "Beacon 
Course," "Scribner's Graded Series," "University of Chi- 
cago Constructive Studies," and the "Evangelical Lutheran 
Series." 

(11) Credits. — Under certain conditions, in some States, 
credits are given for attendance and work in the week-day 
schools and sometimes in Sunday schools. Usually credit 
is omitted, the interest being sustained by the character 
of the work and its partial recognition by the school au- 
thorities. While the attendance upon the week-day schools 
has been generally from the first six grades, high-school 
students have constituted an important part of the school 
attendance in certain communities, such as Oak Park, 
which registers nearly one thousand pupils from the upper 
grades and high school. In Colorado, Indiana, North Da- 
kota, and other States from two to fourteen credits can be 
earned by Bible study in the Sunday school under certain 
conditions. 

(12) General. — The more satisfactory experiments have 
"been those in which the church leaders have entered ac- 
tively into the plans and have directed and supported the 
week-day school. Where this is done, there is little danger 
that the week-day school will become a competitor to the 
Sunday school. Instead it should be an augmenting factor 
to the whole work of the school and tone up the whole pro- 
gram and equipment. 

6. Vacation schools. These are of two kinds: the re- 
ligious day school and the daily vacation Bible school. 
Both are usually conducted during the summer and for 
half- or whole-day sessions. 

(1) Religious day schools. — These began operation in 



264 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

1900 and have been applied to smaller communities, while 
the daily vacation Bible school has been used chiefly in the 
larger cities. The program usually extends through the 
morning hours and includes worship, memory work, and 
Biblical instruction. These schools are for short-term 
periods of two to three weeks, meeting six days a week. 
They include all grades. In The Vacation Religious Day 
School, Stafford (The Abingdon Press), will be found a 
full outline of program and curriculum for these schools. 

(2) Daily vacation Bible schools. — These schools, pro- 
moted by the Daily Vacation Bible School Association 
(Bible House, New York City), are increasingly popular 
both in America and other parts of the world. They pro- 
vide for a six weeks' all-day summer school, with a varied 
program, which combines instruction and recreation very 
delightfully. The mornings are given to the school session, 
the afternoons to organized play and hikes. These schools 
are promoted by city Sunday-school associations and inde- 
pendently and are often supervised by a paid director. 
Teachers, too, are paid, the expenses entering into the 
church or association budget. A suggested division of the 
time is one fourth to training in the devotional life; one 
fourth to the lesson period; one fourth to habit talks, pa- 
triotic talks, and exercises, memory drills, calisthenics, and 
supervised games; and one fourth to expressional work, in- 
cluding handwork and dramatization. The handwork is 
varied and includes, for younger children, string beads, 
raffia chains, and paper dolls; for juniors, basketry, ad- 
vanced raffia work, Bible book-marking, and map molding; 
for older boys, hammock knitting, carpentry work, chair 
caning, and first aid; for older girls, sewing classes, mak- 
ing garments for children's hospitals or wards, orphanages, 
nursing, and domestic science. 

At the close of the school an exhibit, with an evening 
program of drill work and songs, will attract parents and 
community. Such a school will give a fine start for the 
fall program. Additional material, manuals, and sugges- 



THE WEEK-DAY PROGRAM 265 

tions will be furnished by the denominational Sunday- 
school boards and the Daily Vacation Bible School Associa- 
tion, Bible House, New York City. The Presbyterian board 
has standardized these schools and publishes A Handbook 
for the Daily Vacation Bible School. 

Bibliography 

The Week-Day Church School, Cope. 
The Sunday School Between Sundays, Knapp. 
The Vacation Religious Day School, Stafford. 
Religious Instruction and the Public School, Wenner. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The religious value of pageantry. 

2. The time necessary for adequate religious instruction. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What are some accepted forms of the school's week- 
day expressional and educational life? 

2. What is the value to a school of the parade plan? 

3. What is the place of religious pageantry and plays in 
a school program? 

4. What educational value is there to pupil and home in 
the Sunday-school exhibit? 

5. State the purpose of a week-day school of religious 
education. 

6. What is the usual plan of such a school? 

7. What is the plan and value of the daily vacation Bible 
school? 



CHAPTER XVIII 

MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

Missions should have a large place in the life of the 
Sunday school. We are in the flood tide of a great mission- 
ary movement, which is sweeping the church onward in 
an effort to reach for Christ the entire world in this gen- 
eration. The Sunday school is a vital part of this move- 
ment, because the Sunday school of to-day is the church of 
to-morrow, and the training in missionary ideals now will 
result in missionary giving and service later. Mission 
study educates the pupil in sympathy and gives him an 
acquaintance with the big world and its needs. It shows 
him his individual responsibility to the unenlightened mil- 
lions. 

I. Missionary Organization 

1. Sunday-school missionary organization. The 

form of the missionary organization of the Sunday school 
will be determined by the denominational requirements. 
In the Methodist Episcopal Church the requirements are a 
missionary society, with officers, who constitute the local 
board of managers, and a monthly offering. 

2. Missionary policy for the Sunday school. The 
missionary policy for the local Sunday school should in- 
clude the following features: (1) The organization of the 
Sunday-school missionary society or the appointment of a 
missionary committee. (2) Missionary instruction. (3) 
Missions included in Christian worship. (4) Missionary 
library and literature. (5) Missionary offering. (6) Re- 
cruits for mission fields. The superintendent who desires 
to make missions a live factor in his school should post 
himself by reading A Manual of Missionary Methods for 

266 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 267 

Sunday-School Workers, Trull. He should present the mis- 
sionary opportunity to the workers' conference, and a 
definite missionary policy to the school should be under- 
taken. It may be well not to attempt to cover too much 
ground at the start, but to do thoroughly what is attempted. 

3. The missionary committee. The president of the 
Sunday-school missionary society may be the chairman of 
the committee. There should be at least one member of 
the committee in each department. Where the departments 
are large, this department member may act as the chair- 
man of a department missionary committee. 

A school director of missionary instruction, who may be 
a member of the missionary committee, may be appointed 
to guide the educational work. The general work may be 
subdivided, one member being responsible for publicity 
bulletins, another for programs, another for the library, 
another for missionary material and curios, 

4. Director of missionary instruction. Acting under 
the missionary committee, the director will plan the edu- 
cational work and material to fit the grades, assist depart- 
ment superintendents and department committees as de- 
sired, organize mission-study classes, and assist the Teacher 
Training Department in planning the missionary course of 
instruction for prospective teachers. The director can 
help the teachers by taking five minutes of the weekly 
teachers' meeting to suggest missionary illustrations for 
the regular lessons. 

II. Missionary Instruction 

1. Missionary material. As related to general equip- 
ment this may include a general missionary map of the 
world, separate maps of the missionary countries, curio 
box, globe, or large map indicating missionary stations by 
red crosses or tags, charts, quotations from missionaries and 
leaders, illustrated missionary programs, bulletin board, 
posters, library, material for notebook work, stereograph 
and lantern pictures, pictures of missionaries, Oriental 



268 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

pictures, missionary periodicals, and missionary object les- 
sons. These may be obtained from the missionary or Sun- 
day-school headquarters. A missionary-exhibit room is de- 
sirable for missionary material, museum curios, mission- 
ary notebooks, and handwork and pictures. 

The White Temple Baptist Sunday School of Portland, 
Oregon, has a mission-study room, in which all such ma- 
terial is kept. In this room is a missionary map of the 
world and of special countries in which the school is in- 
terested. Home and foreign fields alternate in an exhibit 
of material on shelves in sections about the room. On a 
United States map the Baptist Indian mission stations are 
marked in red, and Indian dolls and a general outfit are 
shown. In the China section there are typical things 
from China. There also are pictures of missionaries, hos- 
pitals, schools, and material to arrest the eye. Every Sun- 
day some class is brought into this room by the missionary 
director and a graded missionary lesson taught. Each class 
is held responsible for a share in both home and foreign 
missions. 

2. Education from the platform. (1) The monthly 
missionary program. — The day should be planned for well 
in advance. A special topic may be assigned to classes 
under a yearly schedule, covering alternately the foreign 
and the home field. Excellent material for this can be 
found in the program suggested above and in those pub- 
lished by the foreign and home missionary societies in their 
monthly papers. These class programs may be presented 
with costume effect, essay, narration, and picture. Inform 
the school in advance of the topic to be presented. 

In turn the great missionary heroes may be made the 
subject of the program, on dates nearest their birthdays if 
possible. Their pictures may be exhibited, enlargements 
made of their sayings, and the story of their life and work 
presented. There is abundance of fascinating material in 
the lives of such heroic men as Mackay in Uganda, Paton 
in the New Hebrides, Eliot and the Indians, Carey in India, 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 269 

Livingstone in Africa, Jason Lee in the Northwest, and 
Verbeck in Japan. 

Have a missionary map talk to explain where the money 
goes, showing missionary stations, giving one or two sa- 
lient facts about each country and indicating the kind of 
work done most largely in each — whether hospital, educa- 
tional, or Bible work. A class representative may give the 
facts or a brief story concerning each country. This may 
be done as a preview or a review of the year's program. 

A letter may be read from the school's missionary, from 
a student supported by school funds, or from a hospital 
helped. A curio or object, such as chopsticks, postage 
stamp, rice bowl, or incense stick, may be used as the 
point of contact for a stirring missionary story or ad- 
dress. 

Day stereopticon illustrations of a particular country's 
missionary work may be procured from the denominational 
boards and will actualize missions in a striking way. 

A short drill on interesting facts in connection with each, 
country presented will be helpful. 

The review of a library book may be given by a pupil or 
teacher, and the missionary facts introduced in connection 
with it. A pupil dressed to represent a native of a mission 
field will tell the story of her life. Such costumes can be 
very simply made, using kimonos, curtains, or cheesecloth. 
Designs may be secured from pictures in missionary litera- 
ture. 

Where schools have department rooms, the missionary 
program should be graded. If China is the subject for the 
monthly exercises, the material should be organized to 
make the right appeal to each age group. Mission-study 
classes for the department should be encouraged, with the 
textbook to fit the age. Pupils like to make books of illus- 
trated stories of missionary heroes or missionary hymns. 

(2) Every Sunday. — The missionary meaning of the cur- 
rent lesson may be given by the superintendent in his re- 
view. Missionary stereopticon slides may be exhibited 



270 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

during the ten minutes preceding the school session. A 
missionary hymn may be sung, and the missionary remem- 
bered in prayer. Five Missionary Minutes, Trull, suggests 
the plan for a missionary story or fact for each Sunday. 

A missionary director may, by previous arrangement, 
go to a class each Sunday and teach there a special mis- 
sionary lesson. Have each class on successive Sundays 
present through a representative a missionary fact or in- 
cident dug out from the secular or religious press. 

3. Special training material and plans. In the 
primary grades an object lesson, a picture, a simple story, 
may be used. The Japanese and other picture cards and 
object sets, "Homes Around the World," and "Young Amer- 
icans" (Ferris), are helpful primary picture stories. 

In the Junior Department such stories as those of Shel- 
don Jackson and Paton; Under Many Flags, Cronk; and 
Stay-at-Home Journeys, Osborne, may be made fascinating 
as a basis for the development of missionary interest, 
through their study by classes at the home of the teacher, 
or a review of the books in a junior missionary program, 
or as supplemental work in the department. 

In the Intermediate Department Uganda's White Man of 
Work (the story of Mackay), Making Life Count, Poster; 
and A Noble Army, Hubbard, will capture the interest of 
the biography-loving, hero-worshiping intermediates. 

For the seniors and young people, Servants of the King, 
Speer, will heighten their life ideals and inspire for service. 
World Friendship, Murray; Playing Square With To-Mor- 
row, Eastman; The Moslem World, Zwemer; The Why and 
How of Foreign Missions, Brown; The Kingdom and the 
Nations, North; or From Survey to Service, Douglass, will 
form the basis for arousing adult interest. 

In some schools where the uniform lessons are used there 
are classes in the departments which take up these books 
for a limited time instead of the regular lesson. 

A mission-study class may be organized in the school, in 
which class the members have special missionary work as 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 271 

an objective, taking up such a book as The Why and How 
of Foreign Missions, Brown. The Mission Study Class 
Leader, Sailer, will be helpful to the teacher. There is a 
call for missionary leaders for the different organizations 
of the church and school and for the different departments 
of the school. Such a class should prepare in methods of 
work, as well as in general missionary information. Mis- 
sionary notebooks are made up by pupils taking a special 
character or country and illustrating it with maps, Tissot 
pictures, and other pictures. If a country, the material 
may include maps, missionary stations, population, re- 
ligions, missionary heroes, and missionary work being done. 
A missionary hymn such as "Prom Greenland's Icy Moun- 
tains'' may be decorated and illustrated. 

4. Missionary pageants, plays, tableaux, "movies," 
and stereopticon. As outlined in previous chapters a 
whole new field of missionary education material has been 
made available in the last ten years in the line of mission- 
ary pageants, plays, tableaux, motion pictures, and the 
stereopticon. In connection with the great campaign for 
missionary funds material for teaching through the eye 
gate has been plentifully developed. Young people can be 
aroused to great missionary enthusiasm through this appeal 
to action and visualization. 

To list the material now available in all these directions 
would be a large task. Lists of such material, for purchase 
or for lending, can be obtained from the denominational 
mission and Sunday-school boards and the Missionary Edu- 
cation Movement (150 Fifth Avenue, New York City). 

5. Missionary exhibit. In Chapter XVII will be found 
suggestions as to a school's missionary exhibit which will 
interest classes, departments, and homes. 

A combination plan of exhibit and play was shown in a 
"Missionary Journey Through Africa," planned by Delavan 
L. Pierson, in the Presbyterian Sunday School of Upper 
Montclair, New Jersey. For several weeks the classes 
prepared through a ten-minute period each Sunday for a 



272 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

study of The Tribe of Zambe, Trull. At the close of each 
lesson the superintendent gave a demonstration through a 
geography or language or other lesson. Each class pre- 
pared an African exhibit or scrapbooks, with maps and 
pictures of Africa and of models of African villages. The 
"journey" came on a week-night. There were songs, de- 
votional exercises, a map talk on Africa, showing the prog- 
ress in winning Africa to Christ, and, through a light con- 
trivance, showing each Presbyterian mission in Africa. 
The platform represented an African scene, with palms, an 
African hut built by the boys, a missionary tent, and an 
African kettle. African curios had been obtained from the 
mission board — a war drum, spears and battle axes, grass 
and bark cloth, a witch doctor's headdress, rattle, and 
medicine; necklaces and bracelets. Old and new methods 
of medical treatment were shown in one scene; a slave 
raid; a missionary school. Each class brought a special 
offering for Africa. 

6. Graded lessons and missions. The graded lessons 
in the junior, intermediate, and senior courses make definite 
provision for missions as a part of the courses. These les- 
sons will, be a fine contribution to missionary education in 
the Sunday school. They may be supplemented by the 
other agencies suggested in this chapter in order to round 
out a missionary interest that shall mold the generation 
now with us for an intelligent part in the missionary effort 
of the strategic years just before us. 

7. Teacher training and missions. In the specializa- 
tion work of the teacher-training class missions must find 
a place through the inclusion of missionary material in 
the required lessons, as is done with some denominations, 
or through the use of books that cover the ground of in- 
struction in mission teaching, such as A Manual of Mis- 
sionary Methods for Sunday School Workers, Trull; Train- 
ing World Christians. Loveland; and The Mission Study 
Class Leader, Sailer. Such preparation should include some 
knowledge of missions in general, and the denominational 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 273 

missions in particular; the knowledge of missionary ma- 
terial, how to apply lesson material to stages of progress; 
the aim, obligation, and opportunity of missions; the mis- 
sionary significance of the Bible, the methods of creating 
missionary atmosphere in department and school, the per- 
sonal relation of every pupil to the growing Kingdom, 
and the obligation of Christian stewardship. In the weekly 
workers' meetings these items should be a part of the nor- 
mal drill for teachers who have not had the benefit of 
special instruction. 

8. The adult class and missions. A missionary ob- 
jective, home and foreign, is essential to save adult classes 
from self-centering and to conserve the mighty force of 
the adult movement for highest Kingdom purposes. The 
courses for class discussion have been suggested. These 
may be considered by the report method, in which members 
of the class present topics from a book or resumes of chap- 
ters for discussion; or the textbook method, by which each 
member has his own textbook, a chapter being discussed 
weekly. This course should, however, be limited as to 
time and be tied up to some Bible foundation, so that the 
class will keep the Book at the center of its life and as the 
basis and the warrant of missions. Some adult classes 
will enjoy a midweek meeting for discussion of a mission 
study book or topic. 

The class missionary committee will keep the class in 
touch with some objectives on the home or foreign field, 
supported by the class contributions, will provide such 
missionary items as will keep the class keyed up to its 
missionary obligation and opportunity and will promote a 
class missionary library, or will cooperate with the mission- 
ary committees in securing an adult section of the school 
missionary library. 

9. The missionary library. The quantity and quality 
of up-to-date books on missions for young and old have kept 
pace with the missionary movement and have greatly fos- 
tered that movement. The library and missionary commit- 



274 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

tees should cooperate in the selection of books from lists of 
books furnished by the missionary departments of the de- 
nominational Sunday-school boards. There should be 
graded lists for departmental use. The department books, 
when selected, should be listed as such, and the lists 
posted, or duplicated and placed in the hands of each pupil. 
It will help the distribution if each department has its own 
books, the inspection and circulation of which may be di- 
rected by the department member of the missionary com- 
mittee. 

Plans for introducing the books may include: (1) The 
platform review of a special book by a member of the 
library or missionary committee. (2) Outlining the «tory 
on the platform to the point of absorbing interest, then 
suggesting the book. (3) Library posters illustrating viv- 
idly the book. (4) Posting the new book on the library 
bulletin, with a brief sketch of contents. (5) List of new 
books to teachers with request as to special mention to 
pupils. (6) A library social, with brief papers by pupils 
on the books read, with scaled rewards for the best com- 
positions. (7) Have a librarian who is enthusiastic on 
missionary literature and make him a member of your 
missionary committee. (8) Suggest missionary books from 
the platform which will illustrate the missionary or current 
lessons. (9) Have a class reading circle to meet at the 
homes of teacher or members, chapters being read and dis- 
cussed. (10) A missionary ladder of five to ten rungs 
in each department beyond the primary, one rung for each 
book in the required reading for department to be a "top 
notcher." 

For teachers a fine foundation for missionary interest 
will be laid in such books as Where the Book Speaks, Mc- 
Lean; Evangelization of the World in This Generation, 
Mott; The Missionary and His Critics, Barton; The Mis- 
sionary Enterprise, Bliss; The Decisive Hour of Christian 
Missions, Mott. 

Several copies of the leading missionary magazines, such 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 275 

as the Missionary Review of the World and the denomina- 
tional missionary papers, should be subscribed for from the 
school funds for use by the missionary committee and in 
the reading room, or for circulation among the classes. 

10. The missionary bulletin board. There should be 
a bulletin board for the school and also a department bul- 
letin board for department missionary items. This bulletin 
will be in charge of a member of the missionary commit- 
tee, who should have some artistic faculty, so that items 
may appear in attractive and striking form. On the board 
may be placed newspaper clippings of recent news from 
missionary lands, names of new missionary library books, 
pictures of missionary subjects, to be changed weekly, or a 
brief, interesting missionary story. Missionary Sunday will 
be advertised strikingly, showing topics and special at- 
tractions. 

11. Suggested methods to interest. (1) Hold a week- 
evening with juniors and intermediates with a picturesque 
program. Pupils with flags of different nationalities will 
each tell a 'story of the country. A paper may be read on 
some missionary hero. A missionary incident may be 
presented in action or in tableau. The platform may be 
decorated to represent the country portrayed. 

(2) Distribute missionary papers on Missionary Sunday. 

(3) Give an evening stereopticon lecture on Alaska, Porto 
Rico, or Persia, introducing missionary items. 

(4) Display missionary mottoes, posters, and quotations, 
framed and changed frequently. 

(5) Provide a missionary with a camera and films, ask- 
ing him to send home the films, from which pictures may 
be made for the bulletin board, and lantern slides for the 
stereopticon. 

(6) Have primary and junior children dress dolls in 
foreign attire, or group missionary pictures on gray board. 

(7) Have a place in the church calendar and the church 
paper for missionary items. 

(8) Place upon the walls pictures of missionary subjects 



276 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

and photographs of former pupils who are now mission- 
aries; of supported students, suitably framed, with a sug- 
gestive blank place for picture of the next missionary from 
school. 

(9) Interest pupils in contributing lesson or other pic- 
ture cards and magazines, to be boxed and sent to foreign 
mission stations for use in attracting attendance to mission 
Sunday schools. This may be done through the Surplus 
Material Department, World's Sunday School Association 
(216 Metropolitan Tower, New York City). 

(10) Suggest to classes the packing of barrels for hos- 
pitals, orphanages, and the frontier. 

(11) Encourage the sending of a missionary from the 
school ranks, such missionary to be supported by the school. 

(12) Send a delegate to a missionary summer institute 
to make a report to the school. 

(13) Aim to have some point of interested attachment 
and correspondence in every missionary country. 

(14) Use missionary stereograph pictures, keeping a set 
in circulation among the classes. 

(15) Have a missionary debate or series of debates for 
your seniors. 

(16) Organize your classes or departments into "Light 
Bearers," "Junior Missionary Bands," "King's Heralds," 
"Home Guards," and "Dorcas" or "Queen Esther Circles." 
Apply to the home and foreign board offices for plans. 

(17) Publish and distribute in card or booklet form the 
sketches of missionaries, with some striking missionary 
facts. Pictures will add to attractiveness of these. 

(18) Interest the boys in making and collecting material 
for the missionary museum. 

(19) Have the Beginners' or Primary Department con- 
tribute beginners' material, including teachers' books, to 
foreign Sunday schools. Explanations in the language of the 
children will be printed by the missionaries on the reverse 
of the picture material. 

(20) Have the "Dorcas" and other circles take up mis- 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 277 

sionary topics for presentation by members at their weekly 
or monthly meetings — such topics as "Frontier Work," 
"Spanish-American Work," "Colored Schools," "Mormon 
Work," "The Top Knots," and "Children of the Sunrise 
Kingdom." 

(21) Ask foreign missionaries to send picture postcards 
for sale or mounting. 

(22) Interest the older pupils in drawing, for school use, 
maps of mission countries; making missionary mottoes, 
charts, and pictures. 

(23) Use the blackboard for missionary items. 

(24) One school used a "talent" plan, distributing to 
each pupil a piece of money to multiply for the missionary 
offering. From thirty dollars the offering grew to three 
hundred dollars. Popcorn, bulbs, fagots, and calico be- 
came the objects of investment. One class, from an in- 
vestment of twenty-five cents, produced thirteen dollars in 
six weeks. 

(25) Have a missionary fair, each booth with a national 
flag, the pupil in costume, and articles specially illustrative 
of the field. 

III. The Missionary Investment of the Sunday School 

1. Giving money. Giving is the expression of the mis- 
sionary impression. It is the pupil's personal "go" where 
he cannot physically be on the field. It is his contribution 
for a substitute. The following plan as to systematic 
Sunday-school giving is recommended: 

(a) That every pupil give to all objects in which he 
should be trained to be interested, and in relative propor- 
tion to their importance. 

(&) That some duplex system of finances be adopted 
(1) for the Sunday-school treasury, to be used for such 
purposes as the school may designate; (2) for missionary 
and other benevolences. 

(c) (1) That this system be used every week, and (2) 



278 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

that a definite pledge on the weekly basis be sought for 
each of the foregoing objects from every pupil in the school. 

(d) That the adoption of this plan should not eliminate 
but encourage additional offerings on special days, such as 
Christmas, Easter, Children's Day, etc. 

(e) (1) That each Sunday school give at least as much 
for missionary and other benevolences as is expended for 
local support, and (2) that each Sunday school keep in 
correspondence with its missionary boards to ascertain 
their needs. 

Schools that are already supported by the church and 
give all their offerings to missions and other benevolences 
should give the pupil opportunity, either through the 
Sunday school or through church channels, to give to the 
support of the church. 

With the younger children it is desirable to get the con- 
sent of the parents to the weekly pledge. 

Many schools make an annual Easter offering for mis- 
sions, using the service supplied by the Board of Foreign 
Missions. This offering, however, may be used as supple- 
mental to the regular offerings, which should be made the 
basis of the training of the pupils in systematic giving. 

2. Stewardship and tithing. The Methodist Centenary 
and other denominational campaigns have brought afresh 
to the church the question of Christian stewardship and 
the principles of tithing both as to money and as to time, 
which is money. A rich literature upon both subjects has 
been produced and may be obtained from the mission and 
Sunday-school boards. 

It should be recognized that if the church is to incor- 
porate into its present and future life the principle of God's 
ownership of our means and life, education must begin in 
the Sunday school. Stewardship programs especially for 
introduction in the Sunday school are now available. 

3. Prayer for missions. This supports the missionary 
in his lonely struggle against the terrible pressure of a 
different civilization, local indifference, the occasional fail- 



MISSIONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 279 

ure of converts, the wear of an enervating climate, and the 
pull of the homeland. Prayer is the buoyant atmosphere 
that keeps the soul moving on steadily to its goal. 

We should pray in unison with Christ for the lost, disin- 
herited children of our Father. "Other sheep I have which 
are not of this fold; them also I must bring." "That they 
all may be one." "Thy kingdom come." The superinten- 
dent should pray in every session for missions and mission- 
aries, for the school missionary, and for those especially 
supported by the school. He should encourage teachers and 
pupils to unite with him daily in prayer for these objects. 

We must train the pupils to pray as well as to pay and to 
know that there can be no real virtue in our gift unless 
laid upon the altar of prayer. One New York school has a 
monthly prayer calendar that it gives to each pupil. This 
calendar gives the list of special missionary objects for 
prayer and some strong missionary quotations. 

In recent years leagues of intercession have been formed 
to pray daily for the cause of missions. Ascertain the plan 
of your board and enlist the pupils as members. 

4. The giving of life. Mr. Trumbull has well said: 

The day is coming when the Sunday school that has not 
sent some of its members to the foreign field as mission- 
aries, while at the same time numbering still others in its 
membership as volunteers pledged to go, will be ashamed 
and self-condemned. 

In a Buffalo Sunday school, as the result of the interest 
of a praying teacher, twelve of the young men of the class 
have, within one year, volunteered for Christian service. 

A superintendent can assist young people to a decision 
for a life service by the life stories of heroic souls; by sug- 
gesting books and leaflets or pamphlets, such as the Y. M. 
C. A. "Life Decision" series, which may inspire to decision; 
by praying publicly that some worker may go forth from 
the school; by an appeal for volunteers on Missionary De- 
cision Day; by seeking an interview with young people of 



280 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

promise in order to lay opportunities before them; and by 
a conference with teachers as to possible missionary ma- 
terial in the class. 

One representative of the school in the missionary field 
will do more to naturalize missions and inspire a mission- 
ary atmosphere in the school than a year of ordinary effort. 

Bibliography 

Training World Christians, Loveland. 
Missionary Education in Home and School, Diffendorfer. 
A Manual of Missionary Methods for Sunday School 
Workers, Trull. 
Making Missions Real, Stowell. 

Topic for Special Study 
The relation of the Sunday school to missionary work. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. Name chief missionary motives. 

2. What missionary organization is required in Method- 
ist schools? 

3. What should be included in a school's missionary 
policy? 

4. What is the service of the missionary committee and 
director? 

5. Name essential missionary material. 

6. Suggest methods for varying the missionary program. 

7. Name one book available for study in each department 
above the primary. 

8. How can tableaux, "movies," and the stereopticon be 
utilized in teaching missions? 

9. What is the place of missions in the graded lessons? 

10. Suggest a few methods for inspiring missionary in- 
terest in the school. 

11. What plans will make an effective missionary library? 

12. What is the ideal plan in missionary giving? 

13. What is the place of prayer as a factor in missions? 



CHAPTER XIX 
TEMPERANCE AND PURITY IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

1. Temperance. Temperance teaching in the Sunday 
school and the public school in the past is largely respon- 
sible for the prohibition victory of to-day. Continued agi- 
tation and education are essential if we are to secure pro- 
hibition enforcement and extend the victory to other lands. 
World-wide prohibition in our generation must be the goal. 

(1) The Sunday school and prohibition. — "Public opinion 
made the law. Nothing but public opinion can enforce it. 
The temperance task of to-morrow is to mold and hold 
public opinion." Sunday-school workers have but to read 
the daily press to note the relentless effort of the liquor 
interests to bring about a reaction of public sentiment in 
favor of the relaxation of prohibition in the interest of 
beer and wine. The effort has the tacit and often outspoken 
support of those who had formed the drinking habit and 
of those who resent what they esteem an encroachment of 
personal liberty. The sentiment of the foreign-born in 
America is strongly for the repeal of the law. "Booze has 
not even asked for an armistice." If we fail in holding the 
line, it will be because we have underestimated the pur- 
poses and 'strategy of the enemy and have not continued 
the training of a generation to know, hate, and fight the 
evil. 

This educational process may be conducted in such ways 
as these: 

(a) Occasionally distribute leaflet literature obtained 
from the church temperance board, showing the facts and 
contrasting figures as to the actual working of prohibition 
in communities and States, in its effects upon arrests, 
courts, asylums, savings banks, prisons, and the community 

281 



282 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

as a whole in its business and moral interests. The Board 
of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals (Washing- 
ton, D. C.) is headquarters for this information for the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. The Anti-Saloon League 
everywhere has this information. 

(&) Exhibit striking posters and charts (made by pupils 
or produced from headquarters) which will show vividly 
the progress of prohibition. The best of these should re- 
main upon the school walls. 

(c) Call for a newspaper-clipping week (a contest be- 
tween classes, it may be) to discover the publicity given 
to the efforts of bootleggers and others to break the law in 
the interest of profit. 

(d) At least quarterly set aside from fifteen minutes to 
half an hour for a stirring meeting on prohibition enforce- 
ment. Arrange for a good speaker, an exhibit of posters, 
and brief statements by pupils as to the benefits of pro- 
hibition. 

(e) Have a printed temperance service of worship for 
occasional use. This may include rousing songs, a flag 
salute, quotations from prominent men, Scripture temper- 
ance selections, and some strong temperance facts. Deco- 
rate the room and platform with national colors. 

(/) Appoint a temperance and purity committee or a 
temperance and moral-reform committee. This committee 
should cooperate with the superintendent in these plans 
and keep on the outlook for prohibition lawbreaking, co- 
operating with similar committees in the community for 
pressure upon the authorities for law enforcement. 

(g) Use the bulletin board for occasional striking pub- 
licity items. 

(7i) Use stereopticon slides and charts showing scientific 
temperance facts and the effects of alcohol, cigarettes, and 
drugs upon the blood and vital organs. 

(i) Use Lincoln Sunday as a temperance Sunday. His 
picture should be draped with a flag. Quotations from his 
addresses and facts from his life should be given. The ex- 



TEMPERANCE AND PURITY IN THE SCHOOL 283 

ample of other Presidents may be indicated. Quotations 
from national leaders on temperance should be recited by 
pupils selected for the purpose. 

(2) World's Temperance Sunday. — America's direct re- 
sponsibility for bringing about world-wide prohibition 
makes necessary the education of the Sunday school to 
temperance facts and news in other countries. This should 
be done for the sake of these countries and for the sake 
of America because of the unfavorable reaction of liquor- 
drinking nations upon us. To advance is to preserve our 
hard-fought liberty. 

We know that the liquor interests, shut out from Amer- 
ica, are seeking a foothold, wherever possible, in other 
lands. They are a menace there and a menace to us. The 
battle must therefore be carried to Japan, to China, every- 
where. 

World Temperance Sunday should be planned for well in 
advance because of its important bearing upon our new 
duty. Some suggested plans follow: 

(a) Have a character program, with great world-temper- 
ance leaders as subjects: Prances E. Willard, Lady Somer- 
set, Francis Murphy, and John B. Gough. Pupils may read 
brief papers on their work. Quotations from their ad- 
dresses may be given, and their pictures can be unveiled. 
The temperance movement as related to these workers may 
be reviewed and brought down to date. 

(&) Have a world-map Sunday, showing vividly prohi- 
bition areas and the progress of temperance in each coun- 
try. 

(c) Have a world-responsibility Sunday, with classes 
designated to show Christian responsibility to end the curse 
of liquor around the world. Each class may take a field. 
For instance, David A. Day, a missionary in West Africa, 
may be quoted: 

I wonder the Africans do not shoot with poisoned arrows 
every white man that lands on their coast; for they have 
brought them rum and are still bringing it; and in a few 



284 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

decades more, if the rum traffic continues, there will be 
nothing left in Africa for God to save. 

A missionary from China may be quoted: 

It makes one sick at heart to think of the drunkenness 
and vice that are constantly before the eyes of this heathen 
people. One doctor said drink killed more people than 
anything else, even more than cholera. 

From Persia, this: 

Christianity and drunkenness increase with a correspond- 
ing ratio in Mohammedan countries, notably in Persia. It 
has become a standing reproach to the gospel of our Lord 
that a drunken Mussulman is disowned by his fellows and 
turned over to the Christians as being one of them. When 
a Mohammedan is seen intoxicated, the finger of scorn is 
pointed at him by his fellows with the cry: "He has left 
Mohammed and gone over to Jesus." 

(d) Have a world white-ribbon Sunday. Young people 
of the Intermediate and Senior Departments should be 
dressed in the costumes of each country, each with the 
national flag of the country. They should be grouped about 
"America," dressed as the Goddess of Liberty. In turn 
each will tell of the temperance work of his country. 
"America" will sing "Christ for the World I Sing." Then 
two white-robed little girls will weave a bolt of white ribbon 
in and out among those standing, binding them together 
while they all sing the "White Ribbon Rally Song": "Bind 
a ribbon round the nations — the nations of our God" 
(Fillmore Brothers). 

(e) On World's Temperance Sunday, supplementing the 
lesson in the classes, a well-qualified officer or teacher may 
give a temperance lesson from the platform, using black- 
board, charts, posters, or object lessons. The songs should 
have a martial ring, such as "The Son of God Goes Forth 
to War"; "Courage, Brothers, Do Not Stumble"; "Sound 
the Battle Cry"; "Stand Up for Jesus"; "We March, We 
March to Victory"; and "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory." 



TEMPERANCE AND PURITY IN THE SCHOOL 285 

(3) Combating the cigarette evil. — The Sunday school 
must array itself against the cigarette for the sake of the 
boy and to save the nation from a degeneracy that will 
surely result if the heart and nerve strength of the youth 
of to-day is sapped by the deadly cigarette habit. The evil 
must be met by pledge, education, agitation, poster, and 
legislation. Boys and girls should be amply protected by 
State laws, and the committee on temperance should see 
that this law is respected in the community. 

Leaflet literature should be distributed occasionally in 
the school among the classes from the junior up. Profes- 
sor William A. McKeever, of the Kansas State Agricultural 
College, Manhattan, Kansas, has produced a number of such 
leaflets, which teach by facts and as the result of a study of 
thousands of boys. The International Sunday School As- 
sociation pledge reads: 

In the cause of freedom from enslaving habits, for the 
sake of strength and purity of character, I pledge myself 
to abstain from the use of cigarettes and to do all I can to 
end the cigarette habit among others. 

Charts should be exhibited indicating the effects of cigar- 
ette smoking upon the heart and physique. 

These pledges should be distributed for signature, and 
the facts presented in connection with temperance Sunday. 

2. Purity in the Sunday school. (1) The Sunday 
school's responsibility. — The failure of the home and of 
the public school adequately to instruct in sex hygiene 
points to the duty of the Sunday school to undertake this 
delicate but necessary task. The missing link, the dynamic, 
to make instruction effective in character and conduct is 
the spiritual motive acting upon and through the will to 
hold life's powers unstained. No final solution of the 
problem of impurity can be hoped for without a combina- 
tion of instruction with a spiritual experience and responsi- 
bility, with the personal influence of parent, Sunday-school 
teacher, or pastor, and an atmosphere in which purposes 



286 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

can be formed and character molded. Just here the Sunday 
school finds its mission of cooperation with the pupil and 
home for best results. 

This is especially the case because: (a) The Sunday 
school may succeed in holding the pupils through the years 
of early and middle adolescence, while the public school 
loses a large proportion just at the close of the grammar 
grades, when the pupils need sex guidance. (b) The more 
intimate relation of the Sunday-school teacher as friend and 
example furnishes a choice opportunity for sex instruction. 

(c) The close relation of the Sunday school and the Home 
Departmental parents' gatherings, the growth of mothers' 
associations and parents' classes in the Sunday school, 
makes possible the opportunity for frank talks and confer- 
ence as to cooperation between Sunday school and home 
in the communication and guidance of sex knowledge. 

(d) The atmosphere of the Sunday-school session and the 
spiritual impression of the lesson and service can be 
counted upon as a toning influence in moral upbuilding. 

(e) The school's week-day program of athletics and social 
and organized activities provides an opportunity of devel- 
oping physical self-control. 

(2) The purity committee. — This committee should con- 
sist of mature persons possessing good sense, tact, and deli- 
cacy. It may be combined in a committee on temperance 
and purity or a committee on temperance and moral 
reform. 

(3) The purity library. — A list of books for parents and 
teachers, for young boys, older boys, young men, girls, 
young women and men, will be found in Sunday- School Of- 
ficers 1 Manual, Brown. Several books for each group should 
be purchased by the committee as a special library under 
its own direction. Some of these books should be placed 
in the hands of the teachers and, after conference with the 
parent, should, by teacher or parent, be placed in the hands 
of the pupil for reading. A Boston school sent a list of 
appropriate books, with a carefully prepared letter, to the 



TEMPERANCE AND PURITY IN THE SCHOOL 287 

school parents, advising them that the books were to be lent 
to parents as called for. 

(4) Parents' meetings. — A judiciously worded letter will 
bring a goodly number of parents for a meeting to confer 
as to plans of cooperation in sex instruction and to ex- 
amine books that might be suggested for different age 
periods. Parents of younger children should be urged to 
tell the child first the story of the origin of life. Such a 
book as Blossom Babies, Chadwick, will be welcomed by 
any mother in helping to tell the story simply in satisfy- 
ing the natural curiosity of the child. 

The father's duty to inform his own boys should be 
urged. Where parents especially desire it, or where, 
through the parents' neglect, the child might suffer through 
ignorance, the duty of the teacher or committee member 
is clear. The child must be protected. 

(5) Meetings for young men and young women. — Sepa- 
rate meetings of young men and young women are emi- 
nently desirable, to be addressed by a Christian physician 
upon the relation of the sex function to character, health, 
and future happiness, and the danger of misuse or abuse 
of these functions. Such talks, if frank and informing, 
without entering into morbid details, do untold good. 
Parents and teachers should be invited. Books appropriate 
for these ages may be placed on exhibit and loaned. 

(6) Meetings of workers. — The workers' conference may 
discuss best plans for the conduct of the work of safeguard- 
ing the children and young people. No more practical sub- 
ject could be presented. Always there will be opposition 
from some, who fail to see that all their teaching may be 
imperiled through an unnecessary ignorance of physical 
fundamentals. 

(7) Employment safeguarding. — The committee should 
make careful inquiry concerning the character of the em- 
ployment surroundings of its young people, especially 
girls. The confidence of these girls should be secured, so 
that information may be obtained. In one class in one 



288 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Sunday school it was found that four of the girls, largely 
because of ignorance, were in danger of a moral breakdown 
because of their employment. The girls had not told their 
mothers, but a wise teacher discovered and corrected mat- 
ters in time. 

(8) Pledges. — Boys, especially in the teen years, are 
usually ready to stand by the highest ideals of purity. The 
white-cross pledge may be used with good results. It reads: 

I promise by the help of God: (a) to uphold the law 
of purity as equally binding upon men and women; (&) 
to treat all women with respect and endeavor to protect 
them from wrong and degradation; (c) to endeavor to 
put down all indecent language and coarse jests; (d) to 
endeavor to spread these principles among my companions 
and friends and to try to help my younger brothers; (e) 
to use every possible means to fulfill the command "Keep 
thyself pure." 

Purity pledges may be obtained from the Westminster 
Press (Philadelphia) and from Sunday-school supply 
houses. 

(9) Purity meetings. — Occasionally in a religious meet- 
ing of the young people the subject of clean living, clean 
thinking, and clean speaking can be impressed. 

(10) Indecent literature. — The committee should make 
the round of stationery and other stores of the neighbor- 
hood to see that indecent post cards, pictures, and litera- 
ture are eliminated from the show windows and from sale. 

(11) Big brothers and sisters. — The adult classes should 
be urged to be big brothers and sisters to the young people 
of the Sunday school and neighborhood in protecting them 
from unclean literature and speech, from vice, and from 
vicious motion pictures and shows. 

(12) Gymnasium talks. — The "gym" or athletic organiza- 
tion of the school may furnish a fine opportunity for pre- 
senting the relation of purity and good habits to physical 
development and endurance. The lives of many athletes 
furnish good material for such talks. 



TEMPERANCE AND PURITY IN THE SCHOOL 289 

(13) Through the lesson. — The lesson occasionally fur- 
nishes a choice channel for a heart-to-heart talk on these 
things, which are, after all, very close to the lives of our 
pupils. From the teachers' lips these words will have 
great value. 

(14) Naturalness. — It is by all means best to give in- 
formation in its normal relation to the development of 
the body and character, rather than to give it unnatural 
or undue emphasis. A Brooklyn pastor, with the consent of 
parents, provides a practical talk by a Christian physician 
as a regular part of the instruction of the confirmation 
class because of its important relation to the development 
of the Christian life. 

The committee should not seek to awaken and develop 
sex consciousness and curiosity, but should seek rather 
to awaken the sense of reverence and responsibility. 

Bibliography 

Alcohol and the Human Body, Horsley-Sturge. 
The Parent's Guide in Sex Problems, Kendall. 
Education of the Young in Sex Hygiene, Wilson. 

Topics for Special Study 

1. The Sunday school and prohibition. 

2. Purity education in the Sunday school as a duty. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. How can the Sunday school cooperate in temperance 
enforcement? 

2. State some plans for World's Temperance Sunday. 

3. What can the school do in matter of the cigarette 
evil? 

4. What is the school's responsibility as to purity edu- 
cation? 

5. How can the school cooperate with parents in purity 
education,? 

6. What is the teacher's duty? 



290 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

7. What direct school methods can be employed to help 
the pupil? 

8. How can the men help in community safeguarding? 

9. What should be the school's general attitude toward 
the question? 



CHAPTER XX 
SOCIAL SERVICE IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

Social service is the application of Christ's life and teach- 
ing to community uplift and betterment. Such service wilL 
take on as many forms as there are community conditions 
and needs. 

The Sunday school is primarily the agency through which 
children are to be trained for this service, although we do 
not overlook the many excellent social-service features of 
the public school. The organization and all-age compre- 
hensiveness of the Sunday school are adapted for such 
service. Social service furnishes a channel at hand for the 
expression of the Bible teaching. It is the principle of 
the good Samaritan broadly applied. Children and young 
people, if rightly directed, are eager for such service. 

1. The social-service committee. (1) This commit- 
tee should represent the different departments of the school 
and should consist of pupils as well as teachers. The adult 
classes particularly should have representation. 

(2) Every member of the committee should be required 
to read at least two books: The Church and the Community, 
Diffendorf er ; and The Social Creed of the Churches, Ward. 
The Church a Community Force, Tippy; and Graded Social 
Service for the Sunday School, Hutchins, should also be 
read. As fast as possible the committee should accumulate 
a library of best social-service books (see list in Chapter 
XXIV of Sunday School Officers Manual, Brown). 

(3) A social-service class in the Sunday school may be 
made a means of training for members of the committee 
and for all interested in community problems. One such 
Sunday-school class in a city included as instructors the 
chief of police, several judges, a jail matron, the president 
of a labor union, and the president of a woman's club. 

291 



292 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

(4) The committee should cooperate in a plan for a com- 
munity survey, give due publicity to this plan, and direct 
departments and classes in a comprehensive scheme of 
social-service activities. It will seek so to coordinate these 
activities as to avoid overlapping and waste. 

2. Community survey. The little pamphlet What 
Every Church Should Know About Its Community (Fed- 
eral Council of Churches, New York City) suggests the 
details of a proper city or country survey and of charts 
that may be prepared to tabulate the information obtained. 
If this is a survey in connection with other churches, each 
church will be assigned its section for survey. The general 
features to be covered in such a social service survey are: 

(1) Population. — Total nationalities and those dominat- 
ing (increase or decrease). 

(2) Church life. — Number of churches, membership, at- 
tendance, Sunday-school membership and attendance, other 
Christian neighborhood organizations, social-service ac- 
tivities. 

(3) Education. — Population of school age, attendance, 
medical inspection, manual training and domestic science, 
vocational guidance, facilities for popular education (such 
as libraries, lecture and extension courses, social centers, 
and reading circles). 

(4) Recreation. — Organized recreations, such as play- 
grounds, school athletics, such as those under religious 
agencies; boys' and girls' clubs; athletic, social, or recrea- 
tional clubs; amusements, private or public, their charac- 
ter; provision for social life of boarding young people. 

(5) Health. — Death rate, infant mortality, health officers 
and functions, annual health-board budget and how ex- 
pended, education as to disease prevention, cooperation of 
churches in this, hospitals, dispensaries, visiting nurses, 
convalescents, contagion in occupations. 

(6) Housing. — Slums, sanitation, defects in buildings, 
number in room, ownership, governing laws and enforce- 
ment, boarding houses, furnished rooms and occupants. 



SOCIAL SERVICE IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 293 

(7) Labor. — Number, ages, establishments, length of 
working day, night work, seven-day work, wages, laws as 
to health and safety and their enforcement, unemployed, 
trades unions. 

(8) Immigrants. — Location, housing, and living condi- 
tions, community contact through night schools, social cen- 
ters, school buildings, churches. 

(9) Charities. — Agencies, cooperative work, church re- 
lief, cooperation between churches and other agencies, city, 
county, and State provision for the poor, defective, and de- 
pendents; and church cooperation with these institutions. 

(10) Delinquents. — Juvenile courts, probation officers, 
separate confinement of prisoners, provision for paroled 
adults. Conditions of jail, police station, and lock-up, em- 
ployment of prisoners, discharged prisoners. 

(11) Public morals. — Responsibility, gambling houses, 
houses of prostitution, regulations as to these, regulations 
as to picture shows, theaters, public dance halls, drugs. 

(12) Civics. — Community government, departments and 
functions, cooperating club or league, church cooperation 
with officials in an organized way. 

3. Publicity. The facts obtained should be classified 
for the information of church and school along the lines 
suggested in the pamphlet referred to. Under such sub- 
jects as labor, education, housing, a minimum standard 
may be worked out and outlined, so that the local de- 
ficiency may be apparent. 

4. Result of survey. If the survey has been conducted 
in cooperation with other churches and community organ- 
izations, a conference of representatives of these will assign 
to the local church and Sunday school its portion of the 
general task of remedying conditions. The social-service 
committee will organize the local cooperation with this 
general program. 

5. Assignment of service. With such a knowledge of 
the community and local church needs the committee will 
list the work needed to be accomplished by the school and 



294 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

assign to the classes or departments that service coming 
within the ability of each. 

6. Graded social service. Suggestions for such service 
follow: 

(1) Beginners and primary pupils. — Give toys to a 
nursery. Support a child's cot in a hospital. Give old or 
new dolls to a children's ward in a hospital or to a nursery. 
Give flowers or fruit to a hospital. 

. i Juniors. — Collect stamps for boys in a "home." 
Make games, puzzles, pictures, or albums for an orphanage; 
raise pop-corn or gather nuts for a home for crippled chil- 
dren. Make candy for children in a settlement. Make 
surprise bags and slippers for hospitals. Dress dolls for 
an orphanage. Grow flowers for a flower mission. Join 
the Junior Red Cross. Protect animals. Show courtesies 
to old people. Plant half an acre of ground, the profits 
to be used in social-service plans. 

(3) Intermediates. — Remail story papers to some insti- 
tution. Help in games at social centers. Give an outing to 
a group of children. Provide a week in the country for a 
boy or girl. Make jelly or grape juice for some "home." 
Collect magazines for almshouses, hospitals, and homes. 
Watch for refuse in vacant lots, poor conditions of streets, 
and report to the committee. Dress dolls for Christmas for 
mission fields through World's Sunday School Association 
(216 Metropolitan Tower. Xew York City). 

(4) Seniors and young people. — Entertain at the home 
church a settlement group. Tutor backward children. 
Take a group of foreign children on Saturday to points of 
interest. Provide pleasant Sunday afternoons for those 
living in boarding houses. Read or sing for an old people's 
home. Furnish auto rides for shut-ins and convalescents. 
Form contacts with group factory girls. Provide pure milk 
for babies. Visit a hospital with flowers. Teach in a 
mission school. Provide programs for homes and orphan- 
ages. Make candy for Christmas at a children's home. 
Provide a "story hour" for a children's home. 



SOCIAL SERVICE IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 295 

(5) Adults. — Cooperate for good roads. Plan a travelers- 
aid booth. Provide a boys' clubroom, with bath, shower, 
or plunge. Be active in securing playgrounds and equip- 
ment, clean motion pictures, tennis courts. Visit prisons 
and hospitals with stereopticon and chorus, using illus- 
trated gospel songs. Join in a Fourth of July citizenship 
or first-voters day, with chorus. Promote a class for the 
Americanization of foreigners. A women's class may look 
after traveling young women at a railroad station. Pro- 
vide a community reading and game room. Be big brothers 
and big sisters to first offenders at court. Cooperate with 
good-will and welfare agencies. Discover boys in the com- 
munity who are handicapped in getting an adequate edu- 
cation and help them in finding employment opportunities. 
Assist in factory meetings and in cottage prayer meetings. 
Send magazines to fire-house employees. Visit these em- 
ployees and employees in other community buildings in a 
social way and invite them to class functions. Offer class 
services to municipal authorities for every good movement 
projected. 

7- Community-house activities. The movement in the 
direction of community activities and the community house 
has received a decided impulse since the war and as an out- 
growth of the war. The Catholic community house has 
been established in many centers and promotes classes in 
homemaking and telegraphy and organizes Scout troops, 
girls' clubs, and dramatic leagues. Through its social- 
service bureau medical aid, dentistry, and nursing are 
taught. The Community Service, Inc. (New York City), 
makes suggestions as to community activities on non-sec- 
tarian lines. 

In one community an old store was converted into a com- 
munity center for the local church. The basement was 
used for a "gym" ; the store for reading and game room ; 
the second floor for classrooms, play rooms for children, 
and meeting rooms for the organizations. 

Next to an old country church a community house 36x72 



296 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

feet was erected. It provides on first floor for gymnasium, 
kitchen, pantry, shower bath, and dressing room. In the 
balcony is a simplex motion-picture machine. On the sec- 
ond floor is a room 30x38 feet for small gatherings. There 
is a young people's clubroom, with open fireplace, beamed 
ceilings, rugs, wicker chairs, table, and game tables. 

Halstead Street Methodist Church in Chicago is in the 
midst of a community representing twenty-five nationalities. 
Graded Social Service in the Sunday School, Hutchins, is 
largely the experience of that school. The social-service 
activities there include volunteer workers to teach manual 
activities, classes in printing, arts and crafts, basketry, 
bookbinding, and brass piercing. These are on Saturdays 
for boys. For the girls there are cooking courses in a 
model kitchen, serving, and nursing of babies while sisters 
are in classes. There is a mother's club, which mends and 
makes over old garments, a free dispensary, and hot food 
every noon. Motion pictures (admission one cent), club- 
room, playgrounds, and gymnasium are other features. 
More than three thousand every week are cared for in this 
institution. 

S. Junior Red Cross. The Sunday school should link 
up closely with this organization. It has branches in half 
the public schools of America and also in China, Europe, 
Australia, and in thirty-eight countries in all. It repre- 
sents a world league of children and youth, doing great 
service to-day for the world's needy ones, and preparing 
for a broader service to-morrow. Its service takes on a 
multitude of forms. In New South Wales, Australian boys 
and girls have established and maintain a tea room for 
blinded service men. A huge shipment of garments, saved 
and mended by Chinese children, was sent to poor children 
in Siberia. In California members of this organization have 
made toys for children's hospitals. In Hungary they knit 
for themselves and for their poorer neighbors. They pro- 
vide scholarships in California societies for disabled or 
sick children, who must be specially educated; and support 



SOCIAL SERVICE IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 297 

preventoriums for children threatened with tuberculosis, 
and day nurseries for poor mothers. 

The Red Cross Society (Washington, D. C.) can give 
full information as to junior organization plans. 

9. Employment department. While this is only one 
of many forms of social service, it has been found of special 
value in city Sunday schools. One school has maintained 
such a department for thirty years, with a record of nearly 
two hundred annually located by the employment commit- 
tee of the school. In another school a committee estab- 
lished a vocational class to determine bent and capacity. 
The teacher was asked, through a questionnaire, as to the 
pupil's age, occupation, if any, ambitions, opportunity, and 
home conditions. The vocational class, held on a week- 
night, analyzed the pupil, directed him to the right books in 
the line of his needed development, and counseled as to 
other lines of preparation. A list of eligibles was made, 
employers were communicated with, and the pupils were 
placed. Such an interest can scarcely fail of big results. 

10. Suggested activities. (1) Send the poorer chil- 
dren of the school and neighborhood to a summer home or 
camp. The Christmas gifts of a school might well be di- 
rected to this service. 

(2) Open the Sunday-school rooms and grounds in sum- 
mer for games, industrial work, and exercises, to do definite 
educational work and to offset unorganized street play. 

(3) Visit boarding houses with invitations to services, 
socials, and entertainments. Visit hotels for same purpose. 

(4) See to the location of sanitary drinking fountains 
at strategic points. 

(5) Install baseball and tennis grounds if in village or 
country. Visit farmers in a campaign for Saturday half 
holiday for help to make Sunday baseball unnecessary. 

(6) Have a church and home clean-up day for renewing 
and reviving worn-out or mussed materials, improving 
church grounds, establishing waste-paper boxes, and re- 
moving all rubbish. 



298 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

(7) Have a social-service rally, inviting the city or 
village health-department head, and present, through slides 
and charts, the city or neighborhood surveys. Report at 
this rally the school's social-service work. 

(8) Have a social-service report Sunday, when each 
class will tell the forms of class social service for the year 
or for a shorter period. 

(9) Have a weedless Fourth. During the previous week 
classes should undertake to remove weeds from the vacant 
lots in the neighborhood. 

(10) Promote band concerts for a local park. One Sun- 
day-school class arranged for a Sunday-school orchestra 
of twenty pieces, which played without charge for twelve 
nights in the summer season in the public park. 

(11) Appoint competent Sunday-school persons to co- 
operate in supervising the public playground. 

(12) Provide a "happy hour" each Saturday in the 
church building for community children, with stereopticon 
and games. 

11. Social-service education. The committee can pro- 
mote a knowledge of this fascinating department of Chris- 
tian service by the following means: 

(1) Social-service library. — Social-service books should 
be purchased by the church or school, selections being made 
from up-to-date lists. Consult your Sunday-school board. 

(2) Reading course. — Several of the books may be se- 
lected for a season's reading. 

(3) Study class. — Young people and those older will find 
a week-night meeting a remembered one in the discussion 
of the many phases of social service. A chapter in some 
good book should be read and discussed, investigating work 
assigned by the leader, and report on some previous as- 
signment read and talked over. 

(4) Observation work. — Groups should be formed to ob- 
serve local factory or other employment conditions, as 
well as bad housing, street conditions, etc. 

(5) Open forum. — Illustrated lectures and debates par- 



SOCIAL SERVICE IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 299 

ticipated in by labor representatives will arouse great in- 
terest in social-service problems. 

Bibliography 

Graded Social Service for the Sunday School, Hutchins. 
The Church and the Community, Diffendorfer. 
The Social Creed of the Churches, Ward. 
The Church a Community Force, Tippy. 

Topic for Special Study 

The school's cooperation with community social-service 
agencies. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What are the duties of a social-service committee? 

2. What facts should be brought out in a community 
survey? 

3. To what use should the survey be put? 

4. State one form of social service for each school de- 
partment. 

5. What is the plan for a community house? 

6. The Sunday school and the Junior Red Cross. 

7. How can the Sunday school assist in the problem of 
finding employment? 

8. State special forms of social service activities for the 
school. 

9. What methods of social service education can the 
school employ? 



CHAPTER XXI 
SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 

The special days of the school year are more than anni- 
versaries. They are opportunities of increasing the en- 
thusiasm and attendance of pupils, interesting the home, 
attracting new members, bringing back the nonattendant, 
advertising the school, brightening the school year, keep- 
ing anticipation alive, varying the school program, and 
broadening the objectives of the school with reference to 
those things for which these days stand. 

The opportunity of these special days is so great that 
their observance must not be left to sudden and haphazard 
preparation. The school must keep its reputation for good 
work high. A careful special-days committee can give the 
superintendent great assistance by a thorough study of 
these days, by gathering, long in advance, the material 
necessary to success. 

Usually some denominational or other offering is taken 
on each of these days. Envelopes should be made ready, 
and the object of the giving explained in an attractive way. 

Only brief suggestions concerning these days can be 
made here. Some schools plan some special day for each 
month. We shall here consider the major special days and 
some minor days. 

The special-days committee should have a representative 
in each department of the school. The committee should 
prepare a scrapbook with sufficient space for material for 
each of the special days. This material can be obtained 
from denominational programs and such Sunday-school 
periodicals as The Church School (150 Fifth Avenue, New 
York City) and The Sunday School Journal, as well as from 
correspondence with progressive schools. This should be 

300 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 301 

constantly added to. Programs of past special days should 
be preserved for suggestions and to avoid repetition. 

The committee should plan floral, flag, bunting, and tissue 
decorations in harmony with the day. Indeed, such ma- 
terial should be on hand constantly as a part of the school 
equipment. 

The committee should see that the plans are given adver- 
tising through the publicity man of the school. 

1. Easter Sunday. Flowers and song and the upspring- 
ing hope in every heart are the superintendent's allies in 
planning a gladsome Easter day. Easter gives the superin- 
tendent an opportunity to send a poem or personal mes- 
sage to the pupils, teachers, and homes of the school. Many 
schools use Easter for the annual missionary offering. 
Special Easter programs are provided by the denomina- 
tional mission and Sunday-school board. An Easter sun- 
rise service should be a part of each Easter day's exercises 
and be made a time of deep religious significance, as the 
Easter story is read and Easter music sung. It may add 
to the interest of this service if a group of singers can stop 
at homes in the early dawn on the way to the meeting and 
sing simple Easter songs in the open. A special invitation 
to this sunrise service will give the superintendent a special 
contact with pupil and home. 

For the weeks preceding Easter the junior boys may be 
kept busy in handwork, producing models of the tomb, 
with rolling door, or a relief map showing Jerusalem, Cal- 
vary, and Mount of Olives. These can be exhibited on Eas- 
ter Day. 

(1) Decorations. — Classes may be asked to bring for Eas- 
ter a potted plant, designated for some sick member or 
shut-in after use in the decoration. Where Easter lilies 
are not available, the room may be garlanded with green 
runners and lilies made of crepe paper. White crepe-paper 
bells will cost but little and can be interspersed with the 
green vines effectively. Draw upon the blackboard Easter 
flowers and a message. 



302 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Lily and hyacinth bulbs and seeds may be given out to 
pupils some weeks in advance of Easter, the flowers to be 
brought on Easter day for use. A plant should be sent by 
the school to each home from which, during the year, a 
member of the school has gone out to the eternal home. 

A wire cross may be placed upon the platform, and the 
school or department pass in procession, each of the pupils 
placing a white flower in the spaces and so covering the 
cross. An electric cross with white and green lights is 
very effective, or some electrically outlined Easter mes- 
sage such as "He is risen." 

Get copies of the best resurrection paintings for decora- 
tion, such as "Holy Women at the Tomb" (Ender), "Peter 
and John" (Burnand), "Christ Appearing to Mary" (Fra 
Angelico), "Easter Morning" (Von Uhde), and "Morning of 
Resurrection" ( Burne-Jones ) . 

Several arches trimmed with vines and lilies may be 
used in a school processional, in which the younger chil- 
dren carry calla or Easter lilies. 

The flowers and plants brought by pupils may each have 
attached an Easter card and be designated to some hospital 
or home. Names for these designations should be obtained 
from the institution, if possible, several weeks in advance 
of Easter. If these can be personally taken by the pupils, 
so much the better. "I was sick, and ye visited me." 

A Southern Sunday school used holly, bamboo, and ferns 
in its decorations. The cross was placed behind a white 
sheet in an alcove of the platform; and when the lights 
were turned on, the effect was beautiful. Another school 
placed the cross, trimmed with Easter lilies, against a 
background consisting of a square sheet on a frame with 
cedar trimming. 

One school prepared a black cross for the platform repre- 
senting the darkness of Good Friday. While the pupils, at 
the superintendent's suggestion, bowed their heads, this 
was transformed into a flower-covered cross by a few of- 
ficers, using holes in the cross, previously prepared. 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 303 

(2) Souvenirs. — It may well be the custom for the 
school to present at Eastertime, a bulb or geranium 
slip or a few nasturtium, pansy, or other seeds, with 
a pot and earth, the flowers to be brought in on some later 
designated day, and used in the platform decorations. 

Pressed flowers from Palestine, paper cut in the form of 
a lily, double, with a verse written inside; a card with 
cocoon and butterfly marked: "Asleep . . . awake"; Easter 
cards made by a group of classes decorated with a floral 
design or a pressed flower and bearing name of school and 
the date; and an Easter greeting or a school program, if 
printed tastefully, are appropriate. 

One school gave out fifteen hundred Easter souvenir 
tags, to be worn by each attendant on Easter morning. 

Special Easter souvenir envelopes should be prepared by 
pupils for the sick and shut-in members of the school. These 
may contain a poem, a card, pictures of lilies or a resurrec- 
tion scene, or a personally written message from the super- 
intendent or class teacher. These should be carried to the 
home after the Easter exercises by the King's Messengers. 

(3) Programs. — The Easter programs furnished by the 
missionary boards are excellent. When the school arranges 
its own services, the program should be printed in Easter 
violet. The Easter lesson should be studied by the classes 
as the heart of the service. Where this does not leave time 
enough for an adequate service, the evening church service 
could be given to the school. 

A graded Easter program, in which each department car- 
ries out its own program in its own room, that program 
emphasizing such part of the story as is best fitted to the 
pupils of that department, is the ideal plan. 

The teachings of nature as to the resurrection should be 
brought out in object lessons and in recitations from the 
poets. 

The great Easter songs should be sung, such as "Christ 
the Lord Is Risen To-Day," "Hail the Day That Sees Him 
Rise," "Crown Him With Many Crowns, ,, "God Hath Sent 



304 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

His Angels," "Ye Happy Bells of Easter Day/' and "I Know 
That My Redeemer Liveth." 

The Easter processional by departments, each department 
contributing its song or section of a unified program, is a 
plan often used. 

The stereopticon may be used to tell the story of the 
resurrection as shown in the paintings of the masters. 
Songs may be interspersed. 

Easter is used largely as a church membership day for 
the pupils. Programs based upon this objective are pre- 
pared by the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

What Easter means to the world may be shown by pupils 
dressed to represent different nations. They may tell the 
teachings of the religions of these nations as to the future, 
especially as related to women and childhood; and then 
another may tell of the strong assurance and hope of Chris- 
tianity. Or young men dressed as priests of the great re- 
ligions may indicate what each stands for as to immortal- 
ity, and the hope of the gospel may be presented by a 
Christian representative. 

One school's program used a class of young men as citi- 
zens of Jerusalem, Antioch, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, 
Philippi, and Colossae. The young men were called upon 
in turn to tell the effect of Christ's resurrection and Paul's 
preaching of it in these places. 

The teachings of nature as to the resurrection may be 
brought out in object lesson of the bulb and lily, the cater- 
pillar and butterfly. Songs and recitations of the early 
flowers — snowdrop, crocus, violet, and anemone — will have 
a place also. 

An interesting and educational program may be prepared 
on "Childhood in Other Lands," illustrated by a group of 
children dressed in the costumes of these countries and, 
if possible, carrying the flags of the countries they repre- 
sent. The brief story of the child life of the land repre- 
sented, its games, child customs, and limitations, may be 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 305 

told by each, one or two songs rendered, and a floral cross 
exhibited; or, as at the world's convention in Washington, 
D. C, an electric cross may be displayed against a map 
of the world, while all sing "In the Cross of Christ I Glory." 

An Anniston, Alabama, school used a cross-and-tomb ex- 
ercise, which included a large arch on the platform, with 
the inscription "The Hope of the Ages," and a portrayal 
of the tomb, with door. A tableau was given, the younger 
women acting as angels and Mary, and the angel within 
the tomb reading the resurrection story, while the others 
listened. Then came the Easter song by the choir. 

2. Children's Day. (1) General plans. — Children's Day 
is usually observed the second Sunday of June. Because 
of its proximity to Flag Day the two are often combined. 
Occurring not far from graduation day in the public schools, 
many schools observe Children's Day as Promotion Day. 

The children should be given the right of way in the 
program. The morning church service may be devoted to 
the children, who should have special part in song, recita- 
tion, or exercise. It is a good time for the pastor to em- 
phasize the Sunday school before the church membership 
and to secure their enlistment for school membership or 
service. The baptism of children should be a feature of 
Children's Day. 

The decorations will express the floral wealth of June in 
cut flowers, arches, branches, tall grasses, reeds, floral 
bowers, a garden with paths, or a fence with gate. Crepe 
paper may be used profusely in simulating roses and vines. 
Birds and pictures of happy children should be in place. 
Flags in unique forms should brighten the room. 

The children should be given the opportunity of service 
to other children through sending the latter, in hospitals, 
orphanages, and asylums, souvenir postals and flowers. The 
superintendent should secure for this purpose the names 
of the children who are to be remembered. 

(2) Programs. — The Methodist Board of Education, 150 
Fifth Avenue, New York City, furnishes a choice program 



306 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

each year for Children's Day and gives information as to 
the work of the board in assisting worthy young people to 
an education through the Children's Day offerings of the 
Sunday schools of Methodist churches. Other denomina- 
tions also have some financial objective for the day and a 
printed program. 

As suggested, the flag has a place on Children's Day. 
The processional on Children's Day should be headed by 
the American and the Christian flags and the class banners. 

If there are any veterans in the vicinity of the school, a 
group of children may act as an escort to conduct them to 
the platform of the school, while the school sings "Onward, 
Christian Soldiers." 

Bible texts on patriotism may be given by classes, and 
"America" sung. Brief talks may be in order on "The 
History and Meaning of the Flag," "What the American 
Flag Stands for Here and Elsewhere," "How to Make It 
Count for Most." 

If the attendance of veterans is secured, a large bunched 
flag can, by a string device, be dropped while all sing "The 
Star-Spangled Banner" with a new meaning in the presence 
of those who have volunteered and fought for the flag's de- 
fense. 

Recitations and songs by the children should be devel- 
oped about the theme selected for the day. Flowers and 
the relation of children in the plan of the Kingdom will be 
prominent in the treatment of the day in Scripture, recita- 
tion, and song; and in most of the published programs for 
the day these things have a place. Among the songs for 
the day may be suggested "I Think When I Read That 
Sweet Story of Old," "Fling Out the Banner," "Saviour, 
Like a Shepherd," "Summer Suns Are Glowing," "Hark, 
My Soul," " 'Tis Children's Day," and "The Christian Flag." 

"Flowers of Palestine and flowers of America" will give 
opportunity for Scripture references to flowers and for 
pupils to guess the names of American flowers, with char- 
acter lessons drawn from their meaning. 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 307 

One school had on Children's Day a wall-building plan: 
"Builders of Character," with blocks representing the ele- 
ments necessary in the foundation and structure of life. 

3. Rally Day. The principle of Rally Day can be ap- 
plied to other days of the school year. A 100-per-cent at- 
tendance day can be striven for several times during the 
year by similar methods. There can be department rallies 
and class rallies. A quarterly rally aim may be planned, 
such as, for one quarter, "intension" (attendance) ; an- 
other, "extension" (new pupils); another, "spiritual in- 
gathering," and the social and athletic aim for the other. 

Rally Day, as an annual occasion, should be brought 
closely into relation with the general Sunday-school work 
of the denomination. 

On that day Methodist Episcopal Sunday schools take up 
the offering for the Board of Sunday Schools. Other de- 
nominations have special objectives for the gifts of their 
schools. 

Ordinarily the most favorable time for Rally Day is the 
last Sunday in September or some Sunday early in October. 
Local conditions should govern the selection of the day. A 
principal purpose should be to arouse the whole school to 
attendance after the summer relaxation, to enlist new mem- 
bers, and to sound the keynote for a forward move of the 
whole school life. The success of the day will depend on 
the preparation for it and the publicity given to it. 

(1) General suggestions. — The decoration of the assembly 
room should be planned for with flags or autumn leaves 
and branches, goldenrod, corn fodder, and wheat, and class 
and school banners. The motto of the day, which should 
be the keynote for the year, may be outlined in autumn 
leaves. 

Many schools that have adopted the International 
Graded Lessons now make use of Rally Day as Promotion 
Day. As these lessons begin October 1, this is an especially 
convenient and fitting plan. 

An alternative plan is for each class to have its own 



308 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Rally Day, the dates of such rallies being distributed 
through the year and the schedules printed, the class re- 
porting on that day its attendance and items of class in- 
terest, and its leader and members invited to take part 
in the program through a class poem, a solo, or platform 
decoration. 

A Rally Day souvenir should be planned for and an- 
nounced. It may be very simple and may be made by the 
willing hands of the teachers and pupils at trifling expense. 
A star, on each point of which will be printed some objec- 
tive of the school, with the Rally Day date in the center; 
a celluloid bookmark or one made of bright colored card- 
board showing the date, and decorated with a Madonna, 
Hofmann's head of Christ, or some other good picture; a 
school button with the school motto on it; a badge in the 
form of a heart or shield or crest, with appropriate Scrip- 
ture; a check tag, which may be sent with invitation, with 
a different color for each department, and marked "Checked 

for Sunday School Rally Day"; 

or a special recognition for each perfect class by the presen- 
tation of an interesting missionary book. An attendance 
goal should be set and apportioned to each department. 

A house-to-house visitation is most important to recruit 
new members for the best part of the school year. 

General advertising for Rally Day may include car 
posters, streamers across front of school and display "ads" 
in the press. 

(2) Invitations. — These should come from three sources: 
the public notice, the direct notification of the school, and 
the effort of teachers and class committees to bring out a 
100-per-cent attendance. 

Probably the largest lever is the teacher's personal effort 
with the pupil. The superintendent should arouse the 
teachers to this by a letter to every teacher several weeks 
in advance of Rally Day, outlining the plans for Rally 
Week or Rally Day, stating the theme of the day, the at- 
tendance goal, the teachers' events beyond Rally Day, the 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 309 

importance of attendance at the weekly or monthly work- 
ers' meeting, the "power house" of the school; and urge 
that the teachers, by visitation, letter, and souvenir 
postal, secure an "every-member-present" class for the 
day. Where possible the Rally Day invitations should be 
graded, so that each pupil may be appealed to from his 
own age angle. 

Much ingenuity has been shown in the form of school in- 
vitations to pupils with the purpose of attracting attention 
and arousing curiosity. Some of these plans can be briefly 
outlined: , 

(a) The telegram or codegram plan. — This consists of 
a telegram on the form of the Sunday School Union Tele- 
graph Company, showing number of offices and local sta- 
tions, delivered by the school's messenger corps, putting 
the event and its features in short sentences, and signed by 
superintendent and pastor. The codegram plan will employ 
signal code terms (write Goodenough and Woglom Com- 
pany, New York City). 

(&) The train and station method. — Tickets are sent the 
pupils for a continuous passage on the "Christian Bible 
School Railroad," for Rally Day, scheduling the time, and 
with coupons for such stations as Vacationville, Roll Call 
Station, Welcome Point, Primary Junction, Junior Town, 
Senior Bend, Intermediate Station, Adult Heights, Mission- 
ary Ridge, and Home Terminal; engineer's orders (superin- 
tendent) ; address from the president (pastor) ; travelers' 
songs, report of the run (secretary); refreshments (twenty- 
third Psalm); hot-box preventive (offering). 

(c) The subpoena form. — This is issued as a summons to 
the pupil from the special-sessions court of the school to 
attend the special Rally Day service and to show cause 
why he should not be present. If not present he is guilty of 
contempt of court, with the penalty of the loss of the 
pleasure of the day. The order has added the seal of the 
school. 

(d) The promissory note plan, — This may be an invita- 



310 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

tion from the superintendent, marking the profit of the 
Rally Day business and a return postal signed by the pupil 
obligating himself, for value received, to meet his note of 
hand at the school at the date and hour named. 

(e) Homecoming day. — This will be an invitation to the 
sons and daughters to the annual homecoming, with the 
latch string out for all. The fireside, the home stories, 
the talks by members of the circle who have been travel- 
ing, songs and recitations from the younger folks, may all 
be woven in, as well as the great fireside Book and the 
"Home o' the Leal." The decorations may take a harvest- 
home form, and the pupils encouraged to bring fruit and 
vegetables for platform decorations, these to go afterward 
to the needy. 

</) The military plan. — This may take the form of a 
military order, or "Call to the Colors/' from the superin- 
tendent as colonel of the Sunday-school regiment. The de- 
partments are designated as battalions, the classes as com- 
panies, the teachers as captains of the companies, the pas- 
tor as major-general, and all the officers of the school 
having appropriate rank, such as quartermaster for treas- 
urer, and adjutant for secretary. 

(g) The ooat invitation. — This comes from the ship's 
commander as a command to the officers and crew, giving 
the sailing date and hour, the ship's name (the Sunday 
school), the flag she flies, the log of the cruise, the pilot 
(Christ), the chart (Bible), the compass (conscience), the 
dangers of the voyage (temptations), the life-saving sta- 
tions (church and Sunday schools), and the port (heaven). 

(7i) Aviation meet. — The invitation will include the pic- 
ture of an airplane. Each department will be designated 
by the type of plane most fitting. The school building will 
be the hangar, and the officers will be the sky pilot, com- 
mander of the aviation corps, and the squadron superin- 
tendent. 

(3) Other forms. — Sunday-school supply houses should 
be applied to for forms already in print covering some of 






SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 311 

the plans above described and many other ingenious meth- 
ods of securing attention and attendance. 

A postcard invitation may have a return postal in the 
form of an invitation, to be signed by the pupil and sent 
by him to a friend, inviting the friend to the Rally Day 
service or to join the school; or the return card may be the 
pupil's direct word to the superintendent pledging attend- 
ance. 

For the pupils and for the community the invitations 
should be inclosed in envelopes, the exterior printing on 
which will bear some striking suggestion of the inclosure. 

The invitations should all aim to enlist new recruits, 
should reach every member of the school, including the 
Home Department and Cradle Roll, and should give a hint 
or an outline of program features. 

Where no special plan is used, the invitation as to form of 
card and printing scheme should be striking, say black on 
red, or red on black, or blue on buff. Denominational and 
general Sunday-school supply houses have a great variety 
of such cards. Designs such as megaphones, clocks, and 
doors will catch the eye. These invitations should be 
mailed to the members of the school or delivered by the 
messenger corps. 

(4) Rally Week. — This week precedes Rally Day in many 
schools. Some schools observe it the week following Rally 
Day. The purpose is to rally the school departments, sepa- 
rately and collectively, socially and spiritually, for a strong 
fall start. This week is observed in different ways. Some- 
times departments are tendered receptions on different 
afternoons and evenings. The weekly prayer-meeting topic 
should bear on the work of the Sunday school. 

A good plan is to give Monday evening to the teachers 
for a "fagot fire" to discuss vacation experiences and to 
plan definitely to bring out the full attendance for Rally 
Day. One or two talks from the management side may be 
given, and plans discussed for a forward move. Tuesday 
evening could be given to several papers on the teacher's 



312 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

relation to Sunday-school success; Wednesday, to the de- 
partment reports and plans; Thursday, to visitation of 
Sunday-school homes by the teachers, and general invita- 
tion ; Friday, to the prayer meeting with a topic; and Sat- 
urday, to the school outing and a social time. Teachers, 
Home Department members, and older pupils may be in- 
vited to these gatherings, and all to the outing. The plan 
and invitations should be printed and distributed. 

A social reception may be planned for one day, the Cra- 
dle Roll, Beginners', Primary, and Junior Departments 
coming in the afternoon for games, followed by refresh- 
ments; and the other departments meeting for social and 
"eats" in the evening, a surprise being planned for each 
gathering. 

Sometimes church Rally Week programs are planned. 
One church included in its plan for the week, visitation 
day, young people's night, Sunday-school night, gymnasium 
open house, ladies' missionary night, and a congregational 
reception. 

The Rally Week of the First Methodist Episcopal Sunday 
School of Petoskey, Michigan, covered, Monday, a canvass 
for new members; Tuesday, an afternoon Home Depart- 
ment and Cradle Roll rally; Tuesday evening, a men's 
rally and reception; Wednesday afternoon, an Intermediate 
Department rally; Thursday evening, a prayer meeting in 
the interest of Sunday school; Friday afternoon, calling 
on absentees; Saturday afternoon, a Primary Department 
rally and reception. 

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Denver, initiates 
its Rally Week with a general visitation of church and 
Sunday-school homes on the previous Sunday. Prospects 
for church and school are included in this invitation. 

(5) Enrollment Sunday. — The Sunday preceding Rally 
Day is a good time for enrolling new members, and the 
drive can be made for this. This will give the new pupils 
a chance to be settled before Rally Day. The classes, as 
names are called, may announce the new enrollment for 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 313 

any department of the school secured by the class. Rally 
Day affords a good opportunity for the church to put em- 
phasis upon the Sunday school by a church rally of all the 
school. The officers and teachers should march into the 
church in a body and be seated according to departments 
in a reserved space; the school should sing a few special 
songs; the sermon should exalt the service of the teacher; 
and all the officers and teachers should gather at the altar 
at the close for consecration to their important work of 
religious education. 

(6) Rally Day programs. — The Board of Sunday Schools 
prepares each year an excellent Rally Day service for use 
by Methodist schools. This official program should be used 
wherever possible. Many other denominational Sunday- 
school boards do likewise. 

Some schools will desire to construct their own program. 
If so, it should be constructed about a theme and, wherever 
possible, presented as a souvenir of the day. It may be 
made the means of suggestions and a message that will be 
fruitful. There should be a theme and text, such as "Go 
forward" (Exod. 14. 15). In such a service classes can 
announce their special service purpose for the year beyond 
Rally Day. 

The program and invitations should match in their 
general plan. Each department should be given some 
participation in the Rally Day program, preferably in 
separate meetings of the departments, the general Rally 
Day theme being graded to department use. A Rally Day 
hymn composed for the school may be sung. The names 
of honor classes and honor pupils having perfect attend- 
ance for the summer should be announced. Messages from 
absent or sick pupils or teachers may be given. At the roll 
call classes will announce enrollment and number present, 
perfect classes being designated as star classes. 

The military plan will involve a processional into the 
school, the bugle call, the regimental inspection, captain 
and company rising at class roll call and report, department 



314 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

battalion participation, and such songs as "Onward, Chris- 
tian Soldiers." Target-firing speeches on points of school 
interest will be helpful if brief. Recruits may be presented. 
Class and department banner and flags should be in place. 
The boat plan may be made interesting through voyage 
songs, short talks by the commander, purser, and chaplain, 
and through the employment of the many nautical terms 
that will be applicable to the program and other parts of 
the plan. 

In the Third Presbyterian Sunday School of Trenton, 
New Jersey, an arch of victory was built by thirty-three 
pupils. There was a letter on each block. As a pupil 
stepped forward with the block he repeated a Scripture 
verse beginning with that letter. The blocks on one col- 
umn read "Our Redeemer"; on the other column, "Only 
Saviour." The arch blocks read "Jesus Christ." After 
the arch building a cross at the center rear was unveiled, 
while the audience sang softly "Alas! and Did My Saviour 
Bleed." 

A West Philadelphia school arranged for a "Homer Day." 
The invitations bore a picture of a homer pigeon. On the 
Sunday before Rally Day six hundred homer pigeons in 
cardboard form were given out to teachers for distribu- 
tion to pupils for a 100-per-cent attendance. These were 
brought in the following Sunday and were placed in a 
pigeon loft with six hundred holes. A few real pigeons 
were there to interest the children, and the program 
turned on Bible birds, their habits, and fidelity. 

My school arranged for departmental rallies the Sunday 
previous to Rally Day, using large departmental shields 
in the departmental colors established by the International 
Association: the Children's Division white and green; the 
Young People's, white and blue; the Adult, white and red; 
and the Home Department, white and brown. On Rally 
Day the shields were used for platform decorations, and 
the department attendance was shown on them in large 
figures. 






SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 315 

The Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal Sunday School, 
Toledo, Ohio, "marshaled the colors" — a time-honored cus- 
tom of the French army. The American Red Cross and 
flags were on the platform. After songs and addresses on 
the flags and their meaning each class, preceded by the 
bearer of the class pennant in the class colors, which bore 
the class name, marched to the platform upon call. The 
color bearers saluted the American flag as they passed and 
stacked their pennants in prepared places about the two 
big flags. The school meanwhile sang "Onward, Christian 
Soldiers." 

The airplane-meet program of the United Evangelical 
Sunday School of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, suggested "The 
church an upward movement." The text was Eph. 2. 6. 
There were an aero bugle call, a Scripture reading by the 
"sky pilot," prayer by the superintendent of the "aviation 
corps," a solo, "The Wings of a Dove," divisional assembly 
of the "reconnaissance" or "scout division," the "combat 
division," the "bombardment division," and a talk on "The 
Aces of the Air. ,, It is possible to bring a wealth of fine 
Scripture illustration and song to such a service, and 
there are many who were in the aviation service who are 
available for addresses. 

A "Community-Wide Rally Day" plan of the Glen-Leven 
Sunday School of Nashville, Tennessee, provided for the 
slogan "The Community in the Sunday Schools of the Com- 
munity." The Sunday service was preceded by a great 
Sunday-evening "community song-sing," which brought the 
community together with special musicians and music. 
The Rally Day goal suggested 100-per-cent attendance, on 
time, in gifts, and in prayer. 

"World Reconstruction Day," or "Reconstruction Day," 
bears upon the Christian program for world rebuilding. 
World needs of every kind may be presented by young 
men and young women, costumed to represent those na- 
tions which are the most in need of guidance and help. 
What is now being done in their behalf should be shown. 



316 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

World outreach songs should be sung, and the school's 
Rally Day purpose to help stated. 

"Enlistment Day" and "Mobilization Day" have been 
popular forms of invitation and program. Each depart- 
ment should be designated as a particular branch of the 
service; and songs, Scripture, and other features will be 
in harmony with the military idea. New enlistments will 
be aimed for as one goal. 

(7) After Rally Bay. — The sick and shut-ins should be 
remembered with flowers and souvenirs. Letters may be 
sent to Rally Day visitors whose names have been taken on 
registration cards, inviting to school membership or a 
further call. 

The enrollment or visiting committee should carefully 
scan the Rally Day absentee list and plan for an immedi- 
ate visit through the teacher or the committee. 

Save some good features for the Sunday following Rally 
Day in order to keep up a good emphasis. The one or more 
new school goals announced on Rally Day should be pushed 
from week to week. 

4. Thanksgiving Sunday. This will be observed in the 
school on the Sunday before or after Thanksgiving. 
Thanksgiving gives the superintendent opportunity to send 
a carefully prepared message to the home to enlist the 
home for prayer, praise, and increased reading of the 
Book. Fruits, groceries, and vegetables should be brought 
by the pupils, if possible, the Saturday before, to give op- 
portunity for their tasteful arrangement for Sunday. 
Green and yellow crepe paper, red apples, pumpkins, corn- 
stalks, and trimmed baskets will make attractive special 
decoration. The pupils may assist in taking these gifts 
afterward to the poor and to institutions. A sunrise prayer 
meeting may appropriately inaugurate Thanksgiving Day 
or the Sunday set apart for its observance. 

The program will include the reading of the President's 
Thanksgiving proclamation by a pupil, papers or recita- 
tions by pupils, or brief addresses by teachers or others 






SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 317 

on the subjects of the first Thanksgiving, when red men 
and white men joined in praise; the reading of Governor 
Bradford's proclamation for the first official celebration 
of Thanksgiving in Plymouth Colony, November 29, 1623; 
the Feast of Tabernacles; old-time Thanksgiving customs, 
present-day causes for thanksgiving; recitation of some 
Psalm (such as the 147th or 104th), or "thanks'' verses 
by pupils and classes or departments, the story of Ruth; 
songs of praise, a national song, and the "Doxology" 
surely. 

Sheets of paper may be distributed the Sunday preced- 
ing, on which the pupils will write their own reasons for 
thanksgiving, or reasons for thanksgiving as a nation, a 
community, a school, or a class, the best of these to be read 
the following Sunday. The stereopticon may be used to 
show pictures of early scenes in national history, such as 
the landing of the Pilgrims; and the pastor may draw a few 
lessons from these. 

Since the war Thanksgiving has taken on a new mean- 
ing, as November is armistice month. America's special 
obligation to the world, as the almoner of God's bounty, 
should be emphasized. 

Thanksgiving lends itself peculiarly to pageantry and 
may make use of material from the Bible, scenes from 
Puritan days, and more recent events. 

A harvest-home concert preceding Thanksgiving Day is 
another way of awakening interest and securing supplies 
for distribution to the poor and to institutions. The ad- 
mission fee may be graded from potatoes to turkeys, so 
that all ages will have a part. 

An excellent plan for Thanksgiving Sunday is to prepare 
the program about the Bible "Feast of Tabernacles," which 
is the prototype for Thanksgiving Day. A booth of ever- 
greens twined about birch saplings and covered with oak 
boughs or cedar branches and open to the front will be of 
interest. The exercises will be ushered in with the blare of 
trumpets or cornets, the school marching in to music. The 



318 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

story of Israel's bondage and deliverance should be told by 
pupils; then the story of the Pilgrims; then the pupils, 
as the successors of both, should march to the platform to 
the music of the cornet and deposit their offerings within 
or without the booth. 

5. Christmas. The time of the observance will be gov- 
erned by local customs. Some schools take Christmas Eve, 
others Christmas morning. Many take the Sunday nearest 
Christmas, the school joining in the morning church serv- 
ice, with the Christmas lesson, Christmas songs, and Christ- 
mas emphasis in the school service, and reserving possibly 
until the evening the Christmas giving and special exercises 
which we associate most closely with the Christmas festival. 
An afternoon should be given to the Cradle Roll and the 
Beginners' Department, and the evening to the other depart- 
ments. In my own school we have graded Christmas 
exercises extending through Christmas week. The Cradle 
Roll, Beginners' and Primary Departments hold three sepa- 
rate entertainments on an afternoon. The Junior, Inter- 
mediate, Senior, and Adult Departments have different 
evenings, the Home Department meeting with the Inter- 
mediate. 

Pupils should be trained in a few of the old Christmas 
carols, to be sung from house to house, following the old 
custom, and for use also in the community-Christmas-tree 
celebration. 

(1) Santa Claus. — As to the question of the place of 
Santa Claus in the Christmas exercises the tide of senti- 
ment is swinging quite surely to the plan of giving Christ 
his rightful place in the festival of his birth. It is ad- 
mitted that the myth and mystery of Santa Claus have a 
universal grip upon the child mind. Many schools find a 
place for him in the exercises which subordinates him to 
the recognition of Christ and makes him the almoner of 
the love gifts of the Christmastide. The question, however, 
arises, How far should the Sunday school, the highest au- 
thority in the child's world next to its parents, give credence 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 319 

to a myth? Many parents, while not disabusing the child's 
mind of the fun of believing in Santa Claus, are careful 
not to make any direct statement as to him which could 
be construed by the child later as a lie, and these parents 
object to the Sunday school's taking a position on what 
seems to them a moral question, which may be contrary 
to the home position. Certain it is that beyond the primary 
grades children are not deceived as to Santa Claus, and 
his introduction into the departments from the junior up 
is likely to lower the respect of the pupil for the school and 
to excite ridicule rather than approval. Is it not time that 
the Sunday school should outgrow its swaddling clothes 
and dignify its work? 

(2) Decorations Christmas is supremely the oppor- 
tunity of the Sunday-school artist. The material is all at 
hand, and cheaply, in the greens, cedar, holly, laurel, crepe 
paper, poinsettias, naper bells, silver stars for overhead, 
tinted pop-corn, cotton, mica, and diamond dust. Some 
imagination and skill can give most beautiful results. It is 
a good plan to give each class a definite part in the prepara- 
tion of the required Christmas material. 

(3) Program. — Christmas cantatas, programs, and recita- 
tions are numerous. Often they will require adaptation. 
Good drilling, of course, is an essential to smoothness in 
results. The "Prince of Peace" as a theme will long have 
a place after the war. 

If a printed service is not followed, these suggestions may 
be helpful: The whole Christmas story read by a good 
reader. Questions and answers on the Christmas facts. 
Brief talks on such subjects as "The Origin of Christmas," 
"The Results of Christ's Coming," and "The Lands Without 
a Christmas." The rendition of Christmas memory verses 
and an impressive reading of the Scripture story. The 
reading by an elocutionist of such fascinating Christmas 
stories as The Story of a Christmas Dollar, by Jacob Riis; 
Longfellow's The Three Kings and I Heard the Bells on 
Christmas Day; Story of the Star, Kingsley; The Other 



320 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Wise Man, by Henry van Dyke; The Birds' Christmas 
Carol, by Kate Douglas Wiggin; The Christmas Carol, by 
Dickens; and selections from Ben Hur. The singing of 
such carols as "There's a Song in the Air," "Brightest and 
Best of the Sons of the Morning," "Silent Night! Holy 
Night!" "Once in David's Royal City," "Thou Didst Leave 
Thy Throne," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "We Three 
Kings," "Come, All Ye Faithful." "The Pastoral Sym- 
phony" from "The Messiah" should be played, and parts 
of "The Messiah" sung as solos or chorus. 

A representation of the inn at Bethlehem, the background 
painted with outlines of Eastern houses, palms in the fore- 
ground, can be used for the development of the story. 
Christmas trees, suspended, collapsible, and revolving, may 
be arranged with wire, ropes, pulleys, and ingenuity. Pic- 
tures of the Nativity may be used to decorate the walls, 
the lights may be softened with blue or red crepe paper, 
and stars may be cut out of an overhang of blue muslin. 

Christmas pageants in recent years have been produced 
in many fascinating forms. Lists may be found in The 
Church School (New York City), including suggestions as 
to costumes. 

Stereopticon pictures relating to the Christmas story, 
with appropriate songs, will interest. Use a phonograph 
with Christmas selections or use glasses or bells for chime 
effects. Have the Scripture story recited and illustrated 
by young people representing the shepherds and the Magi, 
with songs by a school choir. 

A "white Christmas" may include the snow scenes, deco- 
rations in white and green; those reciting dressed in white, 
the gifts consisting of articles of white and being deposited 
in a huge snowball of cotton and diamond powder. The 
school gifts should be tied in white ribbon. A "red Christ- 
mas" or a "green Christmas" may aim for similar results. 
"Christmas Among the Nations" may be presented in many 
picturesque ways. 

In the Bedford Presbyterian Sunday School of Brooklyn 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 321 

a map of the world was exhibited showing the area of non- 
Christian religions; then an electric light shone through 
a break in the map at Bethlehem. Gilt stars on Africa, 
India, China, and other lands showed the progress of the 
cross in the non-Christian countries. Young people in 
costumes of Syria, Africa, Japan, and Korea told the story 
of what Christ's coming had accomplished for them and 
their people. 

"The Spirit of Christmas" program of living pictures and 
songs was given by the classes of a California school. On 
the platform was a frame 9x12 feet. Around the inner 
edges were electric lights, the rays turned backward upon 
the group forming the picture. Two thicknesses of pale- 
blue tarlatan were stretched tight over the front, so that 
the pictures were seen through the gauze, producing a 
softening effect. Back of the frame a section of the plat- 
form was inclosed completely by stretching black paper 
upon a boxlike framework. Each group posed in this black 
box, the only light coming from the electric lights in the 
frame in front of them. Curtains were stretched over the 
platform. The program expressed "The Spirit of Adora- 
tion"; "The Spirit of Giving"; "The Spirit of Service"; and 
"The Spirit of Liberty." Under each of these sections 
there were three or four tableaux. For instance: "Mother 
and Child," song: "Silent Night! Holy Night!"; "Children 
Around the Manger," song: "Come, All Ye Faithful"; "The 
Shepherds and the Star," song: "Shepherds in the Field 
Abiding"; "The Visit of the Wise Men," song: "There's 
a Song in the Air." In the second section: "Gift of Bread" 
(America to children of Bible lands), song: "Break Thou 
the Bread of Life"; "Red Cross Knitters," song: "To the 
Work." The scenes were worked out from well-known 
paintings, magazine covers, and illustrations. The song 
illustrating the next number was sung while the lights 
were turned on and the groups were getting in place. 

Graded Christmas parties are increasingly popular for 
week afternoons and evenings. One school, the First Meth- 



32£ THE SUPERINTENDENT 

odist Episcopal of Oakland, California, had these in three 
divisions. The Children's Division met on an afternoon 
with the mothers. Cradle Roll children received gifts of 
cambric books from the tree. After the primary children 
had their exercises, a door was thrown open into another 
room. Clotheslines were hung with stockings of mosquito 
netting with gifts. Individual class tables were set with 
red apples in the center, around these a row of red candles 
all lighted, around these sticks of red and white candy 
arranged like muskets in stacks of three. The dishes, blue 
Japanese mush bowls, were filled with sugared pop-corn. 
On the edge was a card with a grace before meals, to be 
said by the little ones at home whenever the dish was 
used. The juniors were given blue-and-white salt shakers, 
with a card telling of the friendship covenant of salt, com- 
mon in Bible lands. The teen-age pupils held their affair 
in the evening, with tableaux, and the gifts came from an 
express office arranged in the room, upon the presentation 
of the pupils' claim checks. The adult evening entertain- 
ment consisted of phonograph music, games, tableaux, and 
stunts by the young men's and women's classes. The gifts 
came from the express office. 

(4) Christmas giving. — Christmas getting is being sub- 
ordinated to Christmas giving in large numbers of the 
schools of our land, and the "more blessed" of the Master 
is having its sweet fruitage where thoughtless selfishness 
formerly had the right of way. A school is out of date 
which does not now plan definitely for giving by its mem- 
bers at Christmastime for those less fortunate. The giving 
of teachers to pupils and pupils to teachers must be left 
to the classes. 

Some schools plan by vote of the school to devote all the 
money formerly expended on the school treat to the help of 
worthy causes, the classes in addition bringing their gifts 
for designated objects. The joy in such giving is large. 
Other schools, while making much of the giving to others, 
find that their pupils, young and old, cherish the small 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 323 

school gift, the box with its Christmas inscription from the 
school, and the superintendent's or pastor's picture thereon 
as a souvenir; and so combine the giving and receiving. 
This box may be in bank form, to be used in preparing for 
Easter gifts, thus linking Christmas with Easter. 

The giving will follow the exercises. A usual and inter- 
esting form is for the classes to bring their gifts to the 
platform dressed in some form to correspond with the 
character of the gift. Thus, girls dressed as nurses will 
bring sheets and pillowcases ; miller or Jack Frost boys 
will bring bags or barrels of flour; farmer boys, vegetables; 
Indians, blankets; miners, coal; Mother Hubbard, gro- 
ceries; Little Red Riding Hood, clothing; George Washing- 
ton, Washington crisps; Arabs, coffee; washerwomen, 
soap; Quaker girls, cereals; waitresses, cocoa; Japanese 
girls, tea; maidens from Spotless Town, sapolio; each re- 
citing some rime in harmony with the dress or the object. 

It is for the superintendent and teachers with the com- 
mittee to plan for the objectives in giving and then an- 
nounce them to the pupils. The committee may make out 
a list of suggested objects (the list to be given the depart- 
ments and classes), such as a hospital, an orphanage, a 
lodging house, a prison, a poorhouse, poor families, a sum- 
mer home; an asylum for the blind, crippled, deaf, or dis- 
eased; a struggling student, a dispensary, a Bible woman or 
a student in a foreign land. Games, groceries, and supplies 
of all sorts may figure in this giving. Pupils should be 
encouraged to earn the money or to make the gifts, such 
as picture books, doll houses, corn-cob dolls (with hair of 
corn silk and clothing of husks), or dolls with faces made 
from walnut or hickory-nut shells, with features inked on. 

Unique forms of giving, the gifts being in cash, add in- 
terest to the exercises. One department covered a large 
star with new bills. Another covered with bills an outline 
of the summer home to which the gifts went. One class 
hung a dollar bill at the bottom of each one of the letters 
of the class name. Another presented the gift in a wigwam, 



324 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

another in a canoe; another class, through three members 
dressed as Wise Men, their gifts being gold, frankincense, 
and myrrh. A signed pledge of service of the gift of self, 
of service, of substance, was laid at the foot of a cross by- 
each class. 

A Christmas windmill was built by an Oakland, Cali- 
fornia, Sunday school, with a wing for each department. 
The beginners' wing was first put on. As these turned, 
the departments in succession came to the door of the 
mill, presented their gifts, and then gave their recitations 
and songs. The gifts were presented by some classes in 
costume, according to their character. 

One school placed its gifts in a manger, over which hung 
a star. Another school used a ship, in which were twelve 
boys to receive gifts for the European sufferers. 

One superintendent carried through a Christmas tithing 
plan. On Thanksgiving Day he gave to each pupil a 
"thankful" dime, to be a "talent" to be improved for the 
Christmas offering. This offering was to go one tenth for 
the Christmas treat, one half of the remainder for foreign 
missions, and one half for the poor. From $9 the dimes 
grew to $142.18 by Christmas. 

6. Patriotic days. (1) Independence Day. — The Sun- 
day nearest to July 4 should be emphasized by a special 
program. Piety and patriotism are twin virtues. They 
need cultivation now as well as in Old Testament times. 
The battles of the Republic are not all fought. Her foes 
are not all dead. The heroic days are not ended. Intem- 
perance, corruption, greed, and graft in all their forms 
must be antagonized. The call to-day is for heroes among 
our youth who will fight and, if need be, die in a righteous 
cause. Independence Day is the opportune time for such 
enlistment. 

Independence Day and all other patriotic Sundays should 
be made the occasion to carry the message of Christian 
patriotism to the children of foreigners who may be in our 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 325 

Sunday schools and to their parents, who should be spe- 
cially invited. On these days addresses on true American- 
ism should be made, the flag saluted, and the pledges of 
allegiance to the American and Christian flags recited. 
The Bible, as the basis of all true human and national free- 
dom and morality and character, should be exalted. 

Through these occasions American young people in our 
Sunday schools should be urged to do their part in fighting 
ignorance, injustice, race prejudice, and anarchy, the ene- 
mies of to-day in this and other lands. 

(2) Lincoln's Birthday Sunday. — Lincoln's temperance 
statements may be used in emphasizing temperance. His 
picture should be in place and draped. Several of his say- 
ings should be put in form large enough to be read in any 
part of the room. The program may be enriched by the 
singing of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic"; the recita- 
tion of Whitman's "My Captain," Lowell's "The Martyr 
Chief," and extracts from President Roosevelt on Lincoln; 
Lincoln's favorite song, "My Mission"; and the recitation 
of his favorite poem, "O Why Should the Spirit of Mortal 
be Proud?" His Gettysburg address should be read in con- 
cert. Lincoln's use of the Bible may be brought out through 
the story of the absorption of the Book in his earlier days 
and quotations from his great addresses. 

If printed programs are used for Lincoln Day they 
should reproduce his picture and quotations from his ad- 
dresses. The First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School of 
Oakland, California, made Lincoln Day a Boys' Day pro- 
gram. Boys prepared and circulated the invitations, gave 
talks on Lincoln as a mere boy, Lincoln as an older boy, 
Lincoln as a man, and Lincoln stories. The decorations 
were of red-white-and-blue bunting, and a beautiful picture 
of Lincoln was flanked by palms. The boys acted as a re- 
ception committee and as ushers and sang two choruses. 

(3) Washington's Birthday Sunday. — This is an oppor- 
tunity to impress home missions by the contrast between 
Washington's day and this, showing the steps in national 



326 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

progress, and the reforms in national life due to the per- 
meating influence of the Bible. Washington's farewell ad- 
dress may be made the basis of teaching the value of re- 
ligion and the Bible in nation building, and quotations 
from that address should be read. "O Beautiful for Spa- 
cious Skies," "Faith of Our Fathers/' and other appro- 
priate songs will of course be sung. 

Washington the boy should be given a hearing through 
the emphasis upon basic qualities of character, such as 
"obedience, self-control, improvement of opportunities, fair 
play, self-reliance, politeness, reverence, and willing service 
to God and man," his "moral as well as physical courage," 
and "the grand old virtues of modesty, simplicity, purity 
of heart and mind, dignity, propriety, and truth" which 
the boy exemplified. 

(4) Memorial Day Sunday. — This is a good day to im- 
press reverence for the past, a quality needed by our Amer- 
ican young people. Israel's memorial altars would be a 
good Scriptural basis, suggesting the stress put by Je- 
hovah upon a remembrance of his dealings with his people. 
While Memorial Day somberness should be avoided in ex- 
ercises for young people, there are recountals of the un- 
selfish service of patriots of the sword and in civic and 
home life which will stir to emulation. A wealth of ma- 
terial coming out of the war is available for this Sunday. 
"In Flanders Fields," McCrae, and "America's Answer," 
Lillard, are suggestive of this. 

It will be a good time for the superintendent to read the 
list of those of the school who have died during the year 
and those who died during the war, with any choice word 
that will keep their memory fragrant. The mothers and 
fathers of the latter should be especially honored. The 
"in memoriam" list of teachers and pupils should be 
draped. Classes should bear flowers to the graves of the 
class dead "in remembrance." 

Memorial Sunday is a good time to bring to the front 
the veterans of the land, the sea, and the air, and to link 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 327 

the sacrifices of the past to service to-day. In the Highland 
Methodist Sunday School, Birmingham, Alabama, the flags 
of the allies were massed on the platform. Before these in 
the center of the platform stood a tall white cross, un- 
adorned. Sixteen junior girls in red, with the red veil of 
service, formed a living Red Cross just below the cross. A 
young woman in the white garb of a nurse stood beside 
the cross and recited "The Red Cross and the White," by 
Burton N. Palmer. A soldier * unfurled the colors, they 
were saluted, then the Christian flag was brought forward 
by a young woman in white and saluted. The service flag 
then appeared, and all sang "God bless our men." 

7. Mother's or Parents' Day. The thought of Moth- 
er's Day, the second Sunday of May, originated with Miss 
Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia. A white carnation is to be 
worn on that day in memory of mother, and a letter writ- 
ten her, or a telephone message sent, or some recognition 
made. Sunday schools are widely recognizing the day by 
a special mothers' service. The program seeks to honor 
motherhood through the use of appropriate songs, Scrip- 
ture selections, and choice quotations and recitations. 
Many poems concerning mothers have come out of the war. 
Copies of the masters dealing with motherhood and the 
home should be hung about the school. "Mothers of His- 
tory" should be prepared and read by a girl. Sometimes a 
day in June is taken for Parents' Day, and a red rose 
pinned on each parent present. Mother's Day invitations, 
paper carnations, pins, decorations, and posters can be 
obtained of Sunday-school supply houses. One school used 
as a decoration a large star against a square white back- 
ground trimmed with evergreen. At the center of the 
star were the words "Mother's Love," and at each point of 
the star "Patience, Sacrifice, Forgiveness, Confidence, 
Prayer." The meaning of Mother's Day, the meaning of 
the carnation, should be made clear. General program 
suggestions for the day can be obtained through the usual 
supply house and denominational channels. A carnation 



328 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

salute is sometimes given to the mothers present. Gold- 
star mothers may he recognized. Flowers and plants used 
in the decorations may afterward he sent to gold-star 
mothers. 

One school superintendent asked some of the capable 
mothers to plan and carry through the whole program. 
These mothers responded, cared for the decorations, pro- 
vided special music and the flowers, and gave two ad- 
dresses: "What Mother Ehoes for the Sunday School," and 
"What Mothers Expect the Sunday School to Do for the 
Children"; and sang together the song "Take My Life and 
Let It Be." 

Mothers might present to the school and unveil on 
Mother's Day an appropriate picture, such as Sichel's "Ma- 
donna and Child." A mother's prayer on that day will 
carry further than any sermons. On the evening of 
Mother's Day the young women of the school, in white, 
may act as ushers. 

In one school the teen-age classes took entire charge of 
Mother's Day advertising, program, decorations, and at- 
tendance. The three classes that brought the largest per- 
centage of mothers came to the platform with the mothers. 
These young people provided automobiles for some mothers 
who could not otherwise attend. The boys sang "Tell 
Mother I'll Be There." A young man recited "My Mother." 
A chain of Bible verses concerning "Mother" was repeated. 
A mother sang "My Jesus, I Love Thee." Six white pen- 
nants spelled the word "Mother." 

The Philadelphia Sunday School Association promoted 
mother-and-daughter days for Mother's Sunday in May and 
the Tuesday following. The joint program issued in de- 
tail by the association to schools was termed "The Mother- 
Daughter Friendship Circle." The Sunday program in- 
cluded a sermon to mothers in the morning and to daugh- 
ters in the evening. The daughters acted as ushers. Both 
morning and evening a brief talk was given by a mother 
or a daughter. The Sunday-school session was opened with 



SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 329 

prayer by a mother. A daughter presided. The Scripture 
reading was by a daughter, a solo by a mother, and a duet 
by a mother and daughter. A daughter announced a 
Tuesday-evening banquet for mothers and daughters. The 
visiting mothers attended their daughters' classes. A girls* 
orchestra played the selections. The story of great woman 
Bible characters was by a girl. A mother gave a short 
talk, and a daughter read a poem tribute to "Mother." 

8. Other special days. (1) Promotion Day. — This may 
be also the school's Honor Day, or the school anniversary, 
which is a very important day in the life of Sunday schools, 
in Great Britain especially. It is made the time for a great 
reunion of old members and new. 

Promotion Day plans and programs have been fully dealt 
with under Chapter VIII. 

(2) New Year's Day. — This is made a social day at the 
school through the reception of pupils and parents by the 
officers and teachers. 

(3) Installation Day. — This is an annual event following 
the election of the school officers. It may include the teach- 
ers and be followed by a consecration service. Suggestions 
as to this service are found in Chapter XII. 

(4) Home Department Day. — In Chapter XVI plans* for 
this day are suggested. The purpose is to extend the Home 
Department idea, tie home and school and church together, 
and bring about better religious education in the home. 
The Home Department report should be given in an in- 
teresting way, and the Home Department visitors act as 
an acquaintance committee. 

(5) Palm Sunday. — This is used by many schools as an 
"Acknowledgment Day," when pupils are encouraged to 
make confession of Christ as Lord and King, preparatory 
to their journey to the church on Easter Sunday. More 
than five thousand of the pupils of Brooklyn Sunday 
schools joined the church on Easter as the result of a con- 
certed use of Palm Sunday as Acknowledgment Day. The 
program material is found in the story of Christ's entry 



330 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

into Jerusalem, in "The Palms" for orchestra, or solos, or 
chorus, and in Scripture and song references to Christ as 
King. The decorations should be in green and, where 
possible, palms will of course be used. 

(6) College Sunday. — The first Sunday in the new year 
is sometimes used as College Day, when students are home. 
The Dayton Avenue Presbyterian Sunday School, Saint 
Paul, Minnesota, took advantage of that day to send to all 
pupils an announcement, attached to which was an invita- 
tion to be handed to any college students about the city. 
Of course, old pupils who had been to college were invited. 
The room was decorated on three sides with college pen- 
nants and banners — one hundred in all. The vocal and 
instrumental music was furnished by the glee clubs of four 
local colleges. Then came the lesson during which the 
students were in classes. The reception committee, as well 
as students, wore college colors. 

The day is most important in its effect upon prospective 
college students in the school and in keeping a grip upon 
the old members who should return after the college days 
as leaders in the old school. Lists of such students, with 
the^ year of their graduation, should be kept and carefully 
followed up. 

College Day, too, is observed as a day when Sunday- 
school leaders shall go to the local college, set before stu- 
dents the greatness of Sunday-school service, and challenge 
such service and attendance upon the local school while 
in college. College representatives are sent as well as the 
Sunday school on that day to make the appeal for students 
for the college. 

Bibliography 

Special Days in the Sunday School, Sutherland. 
Special Days in the Sunday School, Lawrance. 

Topic for Special Study 
The best programs for the principal special days. 






SPECIAL DAYS IN THE SCHOOL 331 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What constitutes an appropriate Easter program? 

2. What is the object of the Children's Day offering? 

3. What are several ways of securing Rally Day at- 
tendance? 

4. For what board is the offering of the day taken? 

5. How can Rally Week be observed? 

6. Suggest a few items for a Thanksgiving program. 

7. What should be the school's plan as to Christmas 
giving? 

8. Name two program points each for Lincoln's Birthday, 
Washington's Birthday, and Memorial Day Sunday. 

9. What is the purpose of Mother's Day? 

10. What is the advantage in College Sunday? 



CHAPTER XXII 
EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

The Sunday school is the chief field for recruiting pres- 
ent and future church members. If it were not for the 
accessions from the Sunday school, the church in a few 
generations would cease to exist. The old method of re- 
cruiting, through the annual church revival, has largely 
lost its effectiveness. 

Sunday-school evangelism, therefore, is the most impor- 
tant concern of the pastor and of the superintendent. The 
factors that enter into successful evangelism and the 
methods through which largest results can be secured are 
worth serious study. 

1. Sunday-school atmosphere. This is more essential 
than a concerted Decision Day effort. Sunday by Sunday 
the spiritual impact is being made upon the pupil by the 
life, words, spirit, and genuine love for Christ and souls 
upon the part of pastor, superintendent, and teacher. If 
these are absent, no decision will count for much or for 
long. 

Nothing is more vital in the making of this atmosphere 
than the superintendent's and teacher's personal relation- 
ship to Jesus Christ. That relationship will find its ex- 
pression in song, prayer, teaching, and service. Religion 
is a life. Our presence in the school means — or should 
mean — that Christ is there in a very real sense; and he 
cannot be there, shining through our eyes, clasping through 
our hand, gladdening through our smile, teaching and ap- 
pealing through our voice, without being recognized and 
desired by our pupils. 

Such an apprehension of our privilege in presenting 

332 



EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 333 

Christ will not make Decision Day an abnormal thing. Any 
Sunday school may he and should be an opportunity for 
decision or the expression of a purpose toward which the 
life has been steadily ripening under the influence of this 
school atmosphere. 

2. The supreme aiin of the Sunday school. This is 
to acquaint every pupil with Jesus Christ as Saviour, 
Friend, and Lord, through the Book and the words and 
life of the superintendent, pastor, and teachers; to inform 
in Christian knowledge; and to nurture and train in Chris- 
tian living. 

It is a crime against the soul of a pupil not to give him 
full opportunity to know Christ before he shall pass twenty. 
The home, as at present so largely constituted, does not 
give him that chance. If the Sunday school does not come 
into the breach, the probabilities are greatly against his 
realizing a Christian character. Where, however, the 
school goal is kept ever in view, there is practical cer- 
tainty that, with wise leadership, few will leave the school 
ranks not Christians; for God has done so well his part 
that the harvest may be said to depend entirely on us. 
This is not to minimize the contradictory influence of the 
home; but despite it the chances favor a Christian life 
where the school faithfully does its part. 

Between ten and twenty, and principally between ten 
and seventeen, lie the years of decision. Only 20 per cent 
of our church membership is recruited after twenty-one. 
The average age of conversion is said to be sixteen and 
four tenths years. 

These figures, which can be confirmed in any Sunday- 
school convention or gathering of Christians, point clearly 
to the opportunity and obligation of the school. 

The general experience of the Sunday school points to 
the advantage of the employment of one or more days 
during the year toward which to focus the organized effort 
of the school for a harvest. This still leaves the privilege 
of accessions month by month, through the normal work 



334 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

of the school; and such accessions indicate the spiritual 
vitality of the school even more than a large ingathering 
through concerted effort. 

3. Promoting the worker's spiritual life. The com- 
mittee on evangelism should secure a small library of such 
choice books and leaflets as are suggested in Plans for 
Sunday School Evangelism, Brown, Chapter XIV, and keep 
these books in circulation among officers and teachers. The 
superintendent may inclose directly to teachers and officers, 
in his birthday or other messages, leaflets that will tone 
up the spiritual life and an evangelistic objective in the 
work of the teachers and officers. A monthly teachers' 
prayer service will strengthen the spiritual life of the 
workers. A covenant should be entered into by all work- 
ers to pray daily for each other and for the school. 

4. Sunday-school prayer service. Monthly there 
should be a bright, brief testimony and prayer service in 
the school. This should be prepared for by asking some 
to be ready with brief prayers, some with appropriate 
Scripture, and some with testimony. In Mr. Wanamaker's 
school a twenty-minute prayer meeting follows each school 
session. Opportunity for school decision should be given 
at these meetings. Such a spirit and plan will make for 
steady accessions to the church. 

5. Before communion Sunday. On the Sunday pre- 
ceding communion the pastor should speak to the school 
concerning the opportunity of confessing Christ as Saviour 
and ask that pupils see him (or the superintendent or 
teacher) as to the step. In a graded school this appeal 
before communion Sunday should be made in the Junior 
and older departments by the pastor and those whom he 
may appoint. 

6. Decision Day. This day has also been termed "En- 
listment Day," "Confession Day," "Witnessing Day," "For- 
ward Step Day," and "Acknowledgment Day." The day 
has grown into general acceptance as a point or points to- 
ward which to focus the school's spiritual effort for the 



EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 335 

Christian decision of its young people. While the first 
Sunday in February has been ordinarily used for this pur- 
pose, experience has demonstrated that other days are just, 
as fruitful. 

There are good reasons for using several days as special 
objectives for decision — some of these seasonal, when na- 
ture is also making its appeal in harmony with the inward 
call of the Spirit. The first or second Sunday of November, 
Christmas Sunday, the first Sunday of February, Palm 
Sunday, and Children's Day may be profitably used. While 
in my own church every month witnesses a number of 
accessions from the Sunday school, we have found our 
largest ingathering in recent years has been on Christmas 
Sunday and Easter. For the Christmas campaign we have 
stressed the gift of ourselves to Christ, and Palm Sunday 
and Easter make a special appeal to young people. We 
add about one hundred from the school on each of these 
days. After the right appeal acknowledgment cards are 
distributed on Palm Sunday. 

Decision Day should be the culmination of several weeks 
of preparation through letter, prayer, and conversation on 
the part .of pastor, superintendent, and teacher. If the 
actual decisions have been secured prior to Decision Day, 
the school sometimes observes Decision Day as "Witnessing 
Day." 

7. Planning for the day. The committee on evan- 
gelism or the superintendent should have a list of the 
school membership by classes above the Primary Depart- 
ment and check off against each name whether or not the 
pupil is a Christian or church member. The school sec- 
retary ^hould supply the lists, and the teacher the in- 
formation. 

The pastor may prepare the parents for cooperation in 
the week-night prayer service or the Sunday sermon. One 
pastor sent a personal letter before Children's Day to each 
nonchurch member in the school, asking for a personal 
talk at the parsonage. As a result nearly the entire num- 



336 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ber joined the church. Or the pastor and superintendent 
may send a joint letter to the parents, asking them, if un- 
converted, for their own decisions for Christ and their 
help in winning their children for Christ. 

The superintendent and pastor may join in a letter to 
each non-Christian pupil, tenderly urging his decision for 
Christ. 

Writing a letter to the teacher, urging cooperation in 
the plans and prayer for the school, the pupils, and the 
home for Decision Day is one of the great opportunities 
of the superintendent. Forms of such letters to parents, 
pupils, and teachers may be found in Plans for Sunday 
School Evangelism, Brown, Chapter X. 

For several weeks before Decision Day officers and teach- 
ers should meet for prayer for the empowerment of the 
Spirit and to discuss the best methods of approach to the 
pupil. The suggested plan may be to approach the pupil 
individually, and not in the presence of others; to think 
out the best individual approach; not to press church 
membership in the appeal, but rather to bring the pupil 
face to face with Christ as Saviour, Lord, and Friend; to 
pray with, as well as for, the pupil; to see the parents if 
possible and to win their cooperation ; to hand the pupil, in 
conversation or in the letter of appeal, some such leaflet as 
What Am I Asked to Do on Decision Day? (J. R. Miller) ; 
Will You Not Come? Havergal (American Tract Society, 
New York City); or That Means Me, Henderson (The 
Methodist Book Concern). 

At a workers' preparatory meeting or in his letter to 
teachers the superintendent should place in the hands of 
the workers some such leaflets as Little Parishes of Eight 
(Merriam) ; A Soul-Saving Sunday School, Wells and 
Schauffler; My Class for Jesus (American Tract Society, 
New York City). For himself he should read such leaflets 
as Decision Day and How to Use It, Brant; Decision Day, 
Henderson; and Decision Day in the Sunday School, Chap- 
man. Plans for Sunday School Evangelism, Brown, lists 



EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 337 

other leaflets and suggests the whole approach to the prob- 
lem by the pastor, superintendent, teachers, and parents. 

8. Decision week. Some schools observe a decision 
week preceding Decision Day, covering (1) a weekly prayer 
meeting, at which the pastor's theme bears upon the day; 
(2) a gathering of parents for conference and prayer; (3) 
a meeting of all school workers for prayer and conference 
as to plans, and for discussion of such subjects as "How 
and When to Make the Appeal"; "How Can a Pupil Be 
Helped to Believe in Jesus?" "How Can a Christian Pupil 
Be Helped to a Greater Love for Christ?" "How Can the 
Parents Be Best Approached by the Teacher?" "How 
Should the Pupils of the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior 
Departments be Severally Approached?" 

The teachers in this and other meetings should be drilled 
in finding and using a few pivotal passages, such as are 
in black-faced type in the Testament of the Pocket Testa- 
ment League; for example: confession of sin (1 John 1. 9) ; 
the invitation (Matt. 11. 28-30) ; dangers of delay (2 Cor. 
6. 2; Heb. 4. 7) ; Christ the Saviour from sin (John 3. 16; 
Matt. 1. 21; John 6. 37) ; becoming God's child (John 1. 12; 
1 John 3. 1, 2, 10); confessing Christ (Matt. 10. 32; 1 John 
4. 15; John 14. 23); and following Christ (John 12. 26; 
John 10. 4). At this meeting teachers may present for 
special prayer difficult cases, and prayer should be made 
for all the unconverted pupils of the school. The Saturday 
evening before Decision Day should be set apart for a 
workers' prayer gathering. The pastor meets with his 
pupils on the afternoons of decision week, using as topics: 
"My Father," "My Sins," "My Saviour," "My Faith," "My 
Confession," "My Work," and "My Church." 

In this week or for several weeks in advance of Decision 
Day the teachers may enter into a prayer covenant, the 
cards reading: 

(1) To pray daily for myself, that I may be enabled to 
win every one of my unsaved pupils for Christ. 

(2) To pray daily until Decision Day for each of my un- 



338 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

saved pupils by name, that each may personally receive 
Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. 

(3) To pray daily for the saving presence of Christ in 
the Decision Day service. 

During decision week the pastor should call upon the 
homes of the non-Christian parents and pupils, to pray 
with them and urge their decision for Christ. 

9. General suggestions for the day. Whatever the 
time or term for the day, it should not be presented as a 
solemn day, set off from the round of the school life, but 
with a serious cheer, as a welcome opportunity for the ex- 
pression by the pupil of his life allegiance to a Friend and 
a Saviour who cleanses from sin, and whose friendship 
will enrich forever. 

The exercises of the day should be stripped of all busi- 
ness details. They may be preceded by fifteen to twenty 
minutes of earnest prayer in a teachers' gathering if the 
Saturday night preceding is not used for such a meeting. 

In every school where it can possibly be accomplished 
there should be a graded appeal to each age group in its 
own room. Suggestions for this graded approach follow 
in the next section. Where conditions do not permit of 
this, the pupils below the Junior Department should be 
separated from the others for this service. 

The superintendent should be natural, cheery, but dead in 
earnest. The pastor and superintendent must each clearly 
understand their part in the day's work. 

A full half hour should be reserved for the appeal and 
subsequent details. If the lesson lends itself to the day it 
may be read together or studied briefly in the class with 
reference to its personal application. Otherwise, it may be 
omitted, and some other Scripture used from the platform, 
such as Psa. 51 (a confession of sin) and Psa. 91 (a 
promise of salvation). Other good passages are Isa. 55 
and parts of John 14, 15, and 16. Special care must be 
taken in the selection of appropriate hymns for the day. 



• EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 339 

The basis of the appeal may be the Decision Day under 
Joshua (Josh. 24. 14-28), Christ or Barabbas? (Luke 23. 
13-26), the lesson, or any Scripture that will serve in a 
talk of not more than ten minutes. The blessing of acknowl- 
edgment or confession of Christ, the privilege of being 
on the side of such a Friend, the great honor of relating 
oneself for life to the cause of the King of kings, and the 
joy of service of One so good and One whom every life 
needs so much should all be presented. 

The brief prayer following the appeal should be especially 
prepared for by the superintendent or by someone — or more 
than one, previously selected — who knows how to pray 
briefly and helpfully. 

Before or just following the appeal for decision it will 
be helpful to have someone sing as a solo such a hymn as 
"Ashamed of Jesus," "In the Secret of His Presence," 
"Jesus Is Calling," "I Surrender All," or "The Ninety and 
Nine." 

The decision cards and pencils will be in the hands of 
the teachers and quietly distributed. During the signing 
of the cards entire quiet should prevail. If both teachers 
and Christian pupils shall sign the consecration cards, all 
will have some part in this. Duplicate cards should be 
given and retained by the pupils to place in their Bibles. 
The original cards, with names of pupils who have made 
decision, will be given by the teacher, to superintendent or 
pastor following the service. Where cards are not em- 
ployed, or even where they are used, pupils may be invited 
to stand in confession or to come forward to the altar or 
to kneel in prayer in the class while several shall pray, or 
to stay for an after service, when pastor and superintendent 
can meet them for a talk and prayer. Excellent results 
have been obtained in the Senior Department by separate 
meetings of the young men and the young women, with a 
wise appeal for decision by those fitted to do it. 

Many forms of consecration, decision, and church-member- 
ship cards are available for use. 



340 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

10. Department Decision Day appeals. (1) Pri- 
mary Department. — In this department it is not advisable 
to call upon the children to forsake a life of sin. Here the 
affections should be trained, and love for God and others 
developed. "It is a period of impression, and the impres- 
sion is made by the atmosphere of the school and the per- 
sonality of the teacher." 

The spiritual atmosphere of the school will pervade the 
Primary Department. One teacher told her primary pupils 
that in the other room they were keeping Decision Day; 
that it was a time to choose, and that she wished her pupils 
to choose Jesus. She explained what it meant to choose — 
to take one thing and leave another, to follow one leader 
and not another. She said that Jesus loved everyone in 
her class and wanted every child to love, trust, and follow 
him. Each one was invited to make a mark on the paper 
to show he had made his choice. She asked for how long 
the choice was made, and they said at once, "Always." 
Then the children in the circle stood, and each child, with 
closed eyes and folded hands, repeated a sentence prayer 
after the teacher, asking Jesus' help. And these decisions 
were later remembered in the things they said and did. 

(2) Junior Department. — There should be real effort to 
get every junior definitely to choose Christ and his service. 
It is a fruitful age for Christian decision. It is a period 
for will training. Juniors must not simply be asked to 
love, serve, and obey Christ; but concrete ways must be 
suggested in which this can be done; for the junior period 
is peculiarly the age of action. 

In a large Junior Department in a Chicago school, after 
a brief service of worship on Decision Day and a short 
lesson period, the pastor took charge. A few stirring 
songs were sung. For five minutes a dozen teachers prayed 
pointedly that the boys and girls might choose Christ that 
day. The pastor gave a ten-minute talk on "What, then, 
shall I do with Jesus?" Then a "decision covenant" was 
distributed for signature. There was perfect silence as 



EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 341 

the pastor asked, "How many teachers will covenant with 
these boys and girls that, if they will decide for Christ, 
you will do everything in your power to help them live 
for him?" Every teacher arose and stood with bowed 
head. Again the pastor asked, "How many of these boys 
and girls have made the decision and signed the cards at 
our Friday-night meeting?" A large number arose and 
stood with the teachers. Again he asked, "How many 
would like to respond to the covenant of the teachers and, 
as best they can, accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord?" 
The pastor explained the promise: "Him that cometh 
unto me, I will in no wise cast out"; and then all knelt to 
join him in a consecration prayer, after which the teach- 
ers distributed "decision covenants" for signature, and 
all were asked to sign it who purposed to trust Christ and 
live for him every day the best they could. Sixty-four 
cards were signed, and nearly all the following Sunday 
united with the church. 

(3) Intermediate Department. — The music is important. 
"Coronation," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "Holy, Holy, 
Holy," and "Love Divine," will create atmosphere without 
unduly crowding the emotions. Omit unimportant notices. 
Good Scripture selections are Psa. 51; Isa. 53. Be expe- 
ditious with class markings and offerings. 

Then, after a song, have brief prayers by one or more 
teachers or silent prayer. The teachers may take the 
classes for a brief time. Pencil and papers may be dis- 
tributed by the teacher, and each pupil asked to write his 
idea of what it is to be a Christian. The teacher may 
comment wisely on these and express his earnest wish that 
every member of the class shall decide to be a Christian of 
the highest type. The teacher may give a word of Chris- 
tian experience which will be helpful. These slips should 
be gathered for later use. 

The pastor, with the aid of the blackboard, may show 
from the platform, briefly and clearly, what a Christian 
is not and what a Christian is. Joshua's great decision 



342 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

day may well be made the basis for appeal. Some definite 
expression of decision should be asked for by card or by 
standing or by coming to the front to shake hands with 
pastor and superintendent, and to join in prayer and a 
verbal pledge of allegiance to Jesus Christ. The names of 
all taking the step will be noted and passed on to the 
pastor. 

It is a most serious thing for an intermediate or senior 
pupil to fail to take an open stand for Christ before he 
shall leave these departments. The chances are all against 
a later decision. But care should be taken that he be 
given opportunity to exercise his own will in any choices 
or decisions made, and not be hurried into decision by a 
mere emotional appeal. 

(4) The Senior and Young People's Departments. — Much 
the same form of service can be used for the seniors as 
for the intermediates as to songs, Scripture, the teacher's 
frank talk, and a class discussion (before the opening 
service) of what it means to be a Christian. 

In our own school, for the senior Decision Day services, 
we have used cards, the altar service, and separate meet- 
ings of young men and young women. Always the talk by 
pastor, superintendent, or other speaker has been most 
carefully prepared, to challenge the best in these young 
people in view of the sacrifice and call of Christ, the need 
for an atonement for personal sin, the need of the world, 
the ideal service of Jesus Christ. One Decision Day we 
used a special message to the seniors to commit themselves 
to the service of Christ. 

One school had the goal posted prominently: "The Teen 
Age Department 100 Per Cent for Christ" and worked until 
only one pupil remained unwon. 

(5) Parents' and Adult Department. — In no part of the 
school will Decision Day be more fruitful than with parents 
and adult classes. In one class of seventy-five fathers and 
others every last man was won for Christ and the church 
through the steady pressure of the work of the pastor, 



EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 343 

who was teacher, and the school officers. The mothers' 
group is especially open to a Christian decision for the 
sake of the children and the home. 

The Decision Day preliminaries for these classes are not 
of special consequence. A straight-from-the-heart, straight- 
from-the-Book, straight-from-the-cross challenge is needed. 
Prayer by the Christian men and women in the classes 
should follow, a hymn sung while all heads are bowed, and 
decisions then and there asked for. 

It will help the church membership decision of adults 
if the pastor shall announce, "I am looking for twenty-five 
men to join the church on Christmas Sunday (or Easter 
Day)"; or "I am looking for twenty-five women for the 
church for Mother's Day." Almost always, in our own 
church, men and women have responded to the psychology 
of such an appeal to team up for Christ and the church. 

11. After Decision Day. "After the new birth comes 
the new life." With life there must be growth. We must 
provide for this. The young Christian will need patience, 
sympathy, instruction, work. 

Those making decisions should be reached promptly by a 
joint letter from superintendent and pastor noting the de- 
cision, inclosing some encouraging leaflet, and inviting to 
relationship with Christ's church. 

These young people will need to be trained for church 
membership and for Christian service. Where parents 
make objection, a visit to the parents by the pastor, super- 
intendent, or teacher may overcome their opposition. For 
the young people engaged in business or otherwise busy 
in the daytime, an evening probation or instruction class 
should be maintained and conducted by the pastor. A per- 
sonal workers' class should be organized, with a course in 
personal evangelism, from Studies for Personal Workers, 
Johnston; The Secret of Soul Winning, Shaw; The Human 
Element in the Making of a Christian, Cond£; or Personal 
Work and the Personal Worker, Shelton. Separate after- 
noon classes for the boys and girls should be planned for, 



344 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

led by the wisest women to be found in the church. The 
Sunday-school teacher may in some cases be appointed 
the class leader for his or her class, and in any event 
should be of practical service in reporting promptly to the 
pastor cases in the class requiring attention and in guiding 
the young convert by suggestion, letter, book, and example. 
Material for the training of these various classes is sug- 
gested in Chapter XIV of Plans for Sunday School Evan- 
gelism. This material should be graded. It is assumed 
that the church-membership classes will be graded to the 
age of the pupils. 

The pastor should plan to meet the young converts one 
by one in his own study to understand better their indi- 
vidual problems than is possible in a general meeting. 

These young people should be urged to read their Bible 
daily, following the daily Bible home readings, and to 
enter into a prayer circle, including in daily petitions 
family, friends, and those not Christians in every land. 

We must not expect perfect fruit from these young Chris- 
tians. If there is a willingness to follow Christ, let us be 
satisfied. There is much of suggestion and practical ap- 
plication to us who are older in the little girl's prayer: 
"Lord, make me good; and if at first you don't succeed, 
try, try again." 

Those pupils who have come to a decision and who may 
not come into the church should be followed carefully that 
they may be encouraged to follow Christ until the hinder- 
ing obstacles are removed. 

But there must be expression of the new life in Christ 
through service in the practical duties of the home and 
day school life, in the organized activities of the Sunday- 
school class and the school, in a "win one band," or a 
"win my chum" plan, in bearing personal testimony, in 
"sunshine bands," "King's messengers," in service for the 
shut-ins and sick, and in that missionary interest which so 
attractively invites the thought and gift of the young dis- 
ciple whose aroused love spans the seas in its effort to 



EVANGELISM IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 345 

make the new-found Saviour the precious possession of the 
whole world. 

12. Training through church attendance. This im- 
portant channel of training for the young people should 
be planned carefully through conference of pastor and 
superintendent. Dr. James M. Farrar, of Brooklyn, has 
been most successful in the organization of the young 
people of his church in a junior congregation, which is 
given a brief separate Sunday morning service, the boys 
and girls being organized as church officials, trustees, 
deacons, ushers, and choir. The pastor preaches a brief 
sermon to them. Dr. Farrar's book The Junior Congrega- 
tion will suggest the large possibilities in such an organ- 
ization. 

"The church army," "church worship league," "young 
worshipers' league," and the "go to church band" are meth- 
ods of organizing for church attendance, such attendance 
being marked, and Bibles and hymnbooks given for per- 
fect marks. Blank books may be furnished for tests, and 
these books returned at the end of the year as a basis of 
recognition. The Sunday-school marking system often 
provides for marking for church attendance. 

The pastor should meet this opportunity by organizing 
the young people into special choirs, as in Bethany Church, 
Philadelphia, where four different choirs sing, made up of 
the Sunday-school pupils of different ages. There should 
be food provided for the members of the school in a sim- 
plification of the general sermon or in a special five- or ten- 
minute talk to the younger members on the plan suggested 
in Five-Minute Object Sermons in Outline, Stall; Five- 
Minute Object Sermons to Children, Hatcher; Chil- 
dren's Story Sermons, Kerr; What I Tell My Junior Con- 
gregation, Bennett ; Five-Minute Sermons to Children, Arm- 
strong; and Finding Out God's Secrets, McKay. 

Such a recognition of the Sunday-school membership 
will enable the pupils to be "homed" in the church that 
assumes the responsibility for their guidance and training. 



346 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Bibliography 

Plans for Sunday School Evangelism, Brown. 
Educational Evangelism, McKinley. 
The Devotional Life of the Sunday-School Worker, Brew- 
baker. 

When We Join the Church, Ryan-Betts. 
The Child for Christ, McKinney. 

Topic for Special Study 

How large a part does training play in maturing Chris- 
tian character? 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What is the school's obligation as to the pupil's life 
decision? 

2. What is the school's opportunity as shown in the sta- 
tistics of conversions? 

3. What days may be profitable for decision purposes? 

4. What other terms than Decision Day may be em- 
ployed? 

5. Name a few steps in preparation for the day by the 
superintendent, teacher, and pastor. 

6. Suggest a plan for Sunday-school or decision week. 

7. Outline a plan for Decision Day. 

8. What should be done for the pupil after Decision Day? 

9. What part may the church services play in molding 
the spiritual life of the pupil? 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 

A survey of one county in each of forty States by the 
Interchurch World Movement showed 1,330 churches and 
1,064 Sunday schools. Of these schools 629 were in the 
open country, 361 in villages, and 74 in towns of more 
than 2,500 population. The average open-country school 
had an enrollment of fifty-four. The total Sunday-school 
attendance in all the counties was 60 per cent of the en- 
rollment and 7 per cent of the population. In the year 
surveyed three pupils in each of these schools joined the 
church. 

1. The country Sunday school. The principles, as 
well as many of the methods and plans, suggested in the 
foregoing chapters are applicable to the country as to the 
city school. Many problems are common to all schools. 
The country school has the advantage of being a social 
center. The coming of the rural telephone, good roads, 
rural delivery, the trolley, and the magazine is bringing 
the country community into closer fellowship with the 
world and removing the fact and the sense of isolation. 
With these facilities are coming the educational impulse 
and the improvement of Sunday-school conditions, so that 
in quality and kind, if not in quantity, the country Sunday 
school in very many places is doing a work fully up to the 
strong city school. It has been demonstrated again and 
again that all departments of work of a complete school 
can be maintained in the country. Gradually that chief 
hindrance to Sunday-school progress in the country — the 
belief that things must always go on as they have been 
going for generations — is giving way as the possibility of 

347 



348 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

better work with different methods is demonstrated, and 
as the younger people and many of those who are older 
are, through literature and convention, catching the fire 
of progress. 

The secret of success in the country school, as in the 
city, is the man. "Only heaven can stand in the way of 
a determined man." In the Sunday school heaven is co- 
working with the superintendent; and determination, good 
cheer, tact, religion, and good sense will win out any- 
where. 

The superintendent in the country school is often 
teacher, organist, choirmaster, and janitor. It takes a man 
of grit and grace to carry that job through winter and 
summer. His leadership will be put to the test in finding 
other workers and enlisting them as his colaborers. Some 
of his best work will be in visiting around as he can, dis- 
covering what folks can do, and putting their talent at 
work somewhere, some time, even if they should do the 
work at first blunderingly. 

(1) Ideals for its work. — Three things, in addition to 
those receiving exclusive emphasis in the past, the country 
school must stand for if it is to do its proper work and be 
a force in the community: 

(a) Proper provision for the social life of the community. 
— This it may make through (1) school and class socials 
at private homes; (2) interesting entertainments at the 
school or at homes; (3) the school picnic, lawn or orchard 
parties; (4) a singing class or society to provide cantatas 
or other music; (5) for the boys and young men, a gym- 
nasium, with simple apparatus, in barn or other building; 
the provision of a tennis or baseball field; the devotion of 
the schoolroom several evenings a week to games and read- 
ing and debates. 

(6) Some effort to supply the educational need. — Litera- 
ture may be furnished to the homes in the form of maga- 
zines, boys' and girls' papers, and libraries. Several State 
and city public libraries are now sending out loan libraries, 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 349 

requiring only payment of freight or expressage. Good 
pictures and mottoes that stand for something may decorate 
the schoolroom. 

(c) To assist in community and world needs. — The local 
cemetery may need improvement; good roads are required 
for travel to Sunday school; the city hospital needs flowers 
and fruit. The schoolhouse surroundings may be im- 
proved by trees, vines, and flowers, and a fence inclosure. 
Through using material available for interesting mission- 
ary programs and a missionary library the school can feel 
that it has a definite part in the world-wide work. 

(2) Organization and equipment. — The oblong school- 
house building, as suggested elsewhere in this book, can 
be adapted to graded work through screen and curtain 
divisions. 

The simplest grading would require the division into a 
children's group (three to twelve), young people's (twelve 
to twenty-four), adult (twenty-five and over); and, when- 
ever there is sufficient teaching material, there should be 
strong effort, even if such a class is small, to form a class 
or classes of beginners (three to five), primary children 
(six to eight), juniors (nine to eleven), intermediates 
(twelve to fourteen), seniors (fifteen to seventeen), young 
people (eighteen to twenty-four), and adults (over twenty- 
four). To these divisions or classes definite places should 
be assigned, and promotions made from one department, 
class, or division to another with appropriate exercises. 
The intermediate boys and girls should be separated where 
possible. 

A Cradle Roll, a Home Department, and a training class 
are all possible in the country school. The first two are 
possible if a person is willing to make the necessary visita- 
tion of the homes. The teacher-training class may be 
formed out of the young people of senior age, who may 
take an approved course during the school session. The 
superintendent or a day-school teacher may take this 
class, and much should be made of the work of these pupils 



350 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

through a public graduation service on Sunday evening, 
with papers read by pupils on Bible characters or kindred 
themes, and the presentation of the certificate or diploma. 
Or a meeting of such a class at home during the week 
evening for one hour a week during eight or nine months 
will be found a good plan. To get a teacher for the class 
let the school send a promising young man or woman to 
the nearest summer school of methods. 

An organized adult Bible class can accomplish wonders 
even in a small community. The men of the community 
may be invited for a social evening, the adult-class litera- 
ture distributed, a talk given, and a president elected at 
once. Such a class can find occupation in providing a 
gymnasium and equipment for the young men, also a place 
for evening games and reading, improvement of schoolhouse 
grounds, and an adequate shed for winter use. The pro- 
motion of temperance work in the community can be com- 
mitted to the class. 

A mothers' class can be made successful in the country 
school through a monthly social gathering, as a factor in 
planning for the girls, and in community visitation work. 

A workers' meeting may be conducted in connection with 
the weekly prayer meeting, or the gathering may be held 
once a month at a home. 

A teachers' library consisting of a few good books will 
broaden the teacher's outlook. The State library will or- 
dinarily lend such books upon application, but it would 
be better to purchase them for a permanent library. 

A committee on decoration of building and special days, 
and socials, consisting of both young people and teachers, 
can accomplish much in placing pictures and mottoes on 
the bare walls, providing flowers for desk, renewing cur- 
tains, papering or tinting walls, and assisting in programs 
and special days. The district-school teacher may be help- 
ful on this committee. The telephone can now take the 
place of committee meetings in scattered districts. 

A committee of the men on transportation and comfort 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 351 

of the building, such as ventilation, fire, and cleaning of 
room, will be serviceable. 

The equipment for good work should include primary 
chairs or foot rests, some form of blackboard, song books 
with music, lesson quarterlies for each grade, Bibles, lesson 
chart pictures, carpeted aisle, locker for material, class 
record books, and honor roll. 

A library with magazines and papers for boys and girls 
should be started. Books on American history, hero 
stories, books of discovery, and missionary tales should 
have a place. If the magazines and papers are kept in 
circulation, it should not be difficult to collect money for 
them if the cause is plainly presented. 

(3) The Sunday session. — Late coming is the bane of 
many a country school. That habit can be cured by the 
superintendent's being on time and beginning on time. A 
combination of church and Sunday-school service may be 
arranged by holding the church service at ten o'clock and 
the Sunday school at eleven-fifteen. After the sermon the 
audience may stand, and the superintendent open the Sun- 
day school with a live song. Following this opening 
service the change of seats may be made for the lesson 
study. Or, following the sermon, the classes may group 
themselves during a brief intermission before the exer- 
cises. It has been found practicable for the women to bring 
lunches to the church and hold the Sunday school after the 
luncheon and a little social time. This provides in part 
for the Sunday-afternoon problem in the country, gives a 
little longer time for the Sunday school; and after the 
Sunday-school session the young people can get together for 
a good sing. 

The blackboard in the ordinary schoolhouse gives an 
opportunity for lesson design, naming of honor classes, 
school motto, a text, a new hymn, and initials of books of 
the Bible. Endeavor to secure variety in the exercises. 
Call upon a young people's class to help in song, prayer, 
and the special-day exercises. Aim for one new thing at 



352 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

each session — a recitation, a class song, a story to be read, 
classes in turn to be responsible for such a feature, or a 
committee to be appointed for this purpose. The recitation 
of supplemental or Bible-drill work by classes will be 
found of interest. One Louisiana school of ten members 
learned thirteen hymns, the Beatitudes, the Apostles' Creed, 
the Ten Commandments, and the names of the books in 
the New Testament. 

There are cases where the superintendent is the only 
teacher, with widely varying ages to teach. The question 
method may be used, giving each his part according to 
age, employing a chart and a map to illustrate ; or the les- 
son work may be assigned in detail each Sunday for the 
following week. Or the school may be made into, say, 
three divisions, and while one division is taught the others 
may be kept busy with memorizing the supplemental work 
or with graded manual work, the youngest employed in 
putting together a cut-up Bible picture that illustrates the 
lesson. Once a month there should be a special day, well 
advertised. It may be a missionary program, such as is 
suggested under "Missions in the Sunday School," or the 
observance of one of the special days of the year. 

(4) The winter Sunday school The country Sunday 

school has its winter problem, as the city Sunday school 
has its summer problem, with the difference that in the 
winter the country membership has not decamped. The 
country school's sickness is the chills; the city's, the fever. 
One critic termed the winter-closing school the "woodchuck" 
school, because it went out of sight, to turn up lean in the 
spring. It is admitted that, despite all the difficulties, the 
winter closing is in good part following an old habit that 
would be changed often if the younger people had the vote. 
Certain it is that the day school does not close, reading 
material is needed for the long winter evenings, and young 
people get out to country socials, involving much more 
exposure than is required to attend the Sunday school. 
And it has been found again and again that the winter 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 353 

sessions were the best time to seek the Lord. In one such 
winter school of twenty-five, with the smallest attendance 
sixteen, there were ten of the young people ready for 
church membership in the spring. The problem of the 
winter school is largely one of the janitor and transporta- 
tion. The former has been solved by the men taking turns 
or by using the bigger boys nearest the school to clean up 
and build the fire, if necessary paying a small sum to in- 
sure regularity of results. In one Colorado mountain school 
the boys of fifteen years were organized into a fire brigade 
to cut and haul logs, prepare firewood, and make the fires 
for the winter school. The transportation problem has been 
met by agreement among the men to take turns in picking 
up the children along the roads in road wagon or bob- 
sleigh. 

The winter is a good time for memorizing Scripture and 
hymns at the Sunday school or at home; and pupils in 
turn should be asked on Sundays to recite what they have 
learned. A lesson in Bible geography, the use of the In- 
ternational supplemental outlines, Hurlbut's supplemental 
lessons, chalk talks, Bible drills referred to in this book, 
will all brighten the winter session. On a stormy Sunday 
dispense with a set program and be informal. 

In considering the winter question it is a good plan, 
after one of the fall sessions, to have a luncheon and then 
take up for consideration the problems of the winter as to 
a school Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas, socials for the 
winter evenings, a singing night, when the school can im 
prove its music and prepare for Christmas, Easter, Me- 
morial Sunday, or an occasional cantata, comfort of school- 
room, the week evenings for the bigger boys, home study 
by those who for good reason cannot attend, roads and 
transportation. It is not usually difficult to agree to keep 
open until Christmas, and the further jog to Easter will not 
then seem so hard. 

To insure regular lesson work in the winter on the part 
of the pupils who cannot get out teachers should mail the 



354 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

home-study slip or several written questions, receiving 
the reply by mail. 

(5) Methods to interest. — Plan three or four school so- 
cials for the fall and winter. Divide the school into three 
or four alphabetical divisions, making each division re- 
sponsible for supper and program for each social. The 
alphabetical plan may be carried out interestingly in the 
items for supper and games. Or the classes in turn may be 
responsible for the program. The reading in turn of a 
chapter of an interesting book, singing of new hymns, prac- 
ticing a cantata, a debate between the big boys and girls, 
microscope, and stereoscope may be features of such socials. 

The country is preeminently the place for an autumn or 
spring rally and for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and 
Children's Day exercises. Many of the suggestions in Chap- 
ter XXI can be worked in the country Sunday school. The 
decorations are all at hand in goldenrod, wild aster, autumn 
leaves and branches, vegetables, Christmas tree and greens, 
the early spring flowers, daisies, and summer flowers. At 
the autumn rally remember in prayer and by word the 
young people who are leaving for high school or college or 
for business. 

A Christmas rally at some home may have a supper, 
decorated place cards, tree, recitations, songs, stories by 
older people of the Christmas trees of long ago, and gifts 
from the tree. 

Easter may be the important spring rally. Interest the 
children in gathering material. The story of Easter has 
special significance in the country, where children are ac- 
customed to nature's springtime transformations. Send 
conveyances for all who cannot walk. Give every child 
possible a chance at the program, to bring out all the rela- 
tives and neighbors. Get a singer or speaker from the 
nearest town, sending transportation for them. Have a 
little souvenir for each. Get a few musicians, if possible. 
Reorganize or grade classes. Try for new members for the 
Cradle Roll and Home Department, and give these depart- 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 355 

ments a chance to report. Aim to get every member of 
the family attached to some department of the school. 

The summer picnic can take various forms. A picnic 
dinner at the home of the superintendent may serve an 
excellent purpose. Mothers may bring their sewing; chil- 
dren may play games, and a teachers' conference may dis- 
cuss such plans as a complete visitation, how to enlist the 
new family, and how to regain the winter's losses. 

Have a school motto, colors, and standard. Place the 
standard where it can be seen, and work for it. Give credit 
marks for attendance, on time, bringing Bible, offering, 
lesson study, and church attendance. Place the standard 
where it can be seen, and work for it. 

Suggest plans for the family study of the lesson, such as 
the first reading of it on the Sunday prior to the lesson, 
the use of the daily-home-reading selection, daily family 
prayer in the home, and the use of a form of home study 
slip to stimulate home study. 

Young people will be interested in missionary and other 
plays and pageants which are well within their scope. 
(See Chapters XVII and XVIII.) 

The Beechwood Presbyterian Sunday School in Washing- 
ton Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, is in a 
strictly rural community. The pastor majored on the teen- 
age problem. He enlisted the Bible class in that interest, 
and together the men and boys put up a gymnasium and 
organized a basketball and baseball team. The men or- 
ganized a community-life committee, arranged for lectures 
for the improvement of the community, raised a fund for a 
memorial park, observed there two great community days — 
Memorial Day and Fourth of July — , and organized a vo- 
cational school. The cemetery was cleaned up and regu- 
larly mowed with lawn mowers. The Boy Scouts grew to 
a troop of sixty members. Best of all, the workers aimed 
for soul winning through all these methods. 

Hold Sunday school out-of-doors occasionally in the sum- 
mer, if there is shade near by. A basket lunch may be 



356 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

brought, and all have a good sing. The young people may 
tell the stories of some of the hymns to lend interest. 

Advertise the school in the post office and by Sunday- 
school signboards nailed up at half-mile intervals along the 
highway and at crossroads, and by sending notices of each 
month's special day to the local paper. Programs for a 
monthly missionary special day, such as are outlined under 
"Missions in the Sunday School," will make an interesting 
topic to advertise. The boys will be glad to serve as a 
committee on advertisement in delivering invitations at 
farmhouses. 

One young men's class, as good advertising, cleaned up 
the church yard, grubbed out the brush for flower beds, 
straightened the fence, whitewashed the shed, and built 
rustic signs for the school. Advertising announced an at- 
tractive parking place for autos in a grove and invited auto 
owners to Sunday school. 

Another such committee rented and used a four-inch space 
in the weekly paper, issued a school paper, printed by the 
boys, once a quarter, and advertised picnics, concerts, and 
special days through posters placed on guideposts. 

The school library may be introduced through placing 
some of the young people in charge of a magazine table. 
Get a few to subscribe as a starter, keep the magazines in 
circulation, and interest in the plan will grow. The Home 
Department members will appreciate such a school tie. 

The monthly school entertainment will help toward li- 
brary funds. Stereopticon pictures, declamation contests, 
and a cantata will serve as methods of entertainment and 
of income. 

A school omnibus or carry-all will be a good advertise- 
ment, and the men will doubtless be willing to take turns 
in bringing to school the distant members. 

Introduce a new marking system to awaken interest. 
Banner and star classes and rolls of honor have done won- 
ders in building up attendance. 

Get a new teacher ready, then scour the community for 






THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 357 

members for a class. The plan of asking the young men 
or adults to be one of a limited number if others are se- 
cured has worked well. 

Organize one of the organizations mentioned in Chap- 
ter XV. 

The superintendent should use the rural telephone with 
teachers, committees, newcomers, and pupils. 

A birthday social for all is an opportunity of raising 
funds for school use. Little birthday bags should be given 
out for the birthday gift, tagged .with place and date of 
the social. A corn social at the superintendent's or some 
other home may be utilized as a means of money-getting 
by selling the corn brought. Both parents and children 
should be invited. Preserved fruit or vegetables could be 
brought instead of corn, and these sold in the city for the 
benefit of the school. 

Thanksgiving may be celebrated through a neighborhood 
dinner and social. Members of the Home Department 
could come early, and the young people later. Put in- 
vitations in an attractive form. 

Hold a Children's Day rally out-of-doors for a change. 

Make a census of all people in the neighborhood, send a 
letter of invitation to those not in the school, then make 
your motto "The Last One." Apportion these names among 
the classes to report results in the school session, the 
class failing to report one or more new scholars to con- 
tribute a book to the Sunday-school library. In one school 
members of a certain class took turns in calling during 
different weeks on assigned persons, until ninety-seven out 
of a possible one hundred in the community were attached 
to the school. 

Offer a prize to the boys and girls for best ideas on 
"How to Build Membership and Interest in Our Sunday 
School," or "How to Make Our Sunday School Room and 
Grounds Attractive." 

A Massachusetts school grew from twenty-five to one 
hundred in one year by the simple plan of calling upon the 



358 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

children of the community who were attending day school 
but no Sunday school. The list was obtained from the 
public schools. 

A bungalow-style Sunday-school building at Plymouth, 
Oregon, was finished in the native fir, divided the classes 
by curtains, provided a bright place in the basement for 
primary and beginners' children and social affairs, and was 
a center of rural interest. 

The growing boys and young men should feel that the 
superintendent, through. his interest in their baseball and 
athletic work, house and sleigh parties, and literary im- 
provement, is their friend. 

Encourage the pupils to have a "God's acre," the profit 
on which is to be used in Sunday-school improvement. 

Invite the hired help to join the organized adult Bible 
classes. 

Use the city Sunday-school talent that may come to 
hotels or boarding houses within reach. 

The old Sunday-school Scripture concert on Sunday eve- 
nings can be made effective through use of Bible drills, 
solo work, recitations, and the presentation of some plans 
for community betterment. 

The Sunday-baseball evil must be met by harnessing the 
young men to the school as suggested above, by organizing 
a school baseball team, providing a field, and giving gen- 
eral encouragement of the young men for Saturday and 
holiday games and other athletic lines. An Oregon school 
had a junior and a senior team and promoted a rural base- 
ball league for games, curing in that way the Sunday- 
baseball habit of the community. 

If a schoolhouse is not available, an earnest worker can 
utilize a home for a school, and the several rooms will be 
helpful in department divisions. Or if the community is 
widely scattered, several school groups can be formed at 
the most convenient homes and so timed as to service that 
the superintendent can get to each group for the exercises. 
"Where there's a will there's a way" is a platitude that 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 359 

has fresh illustrations constantly amid all the discourage- 
ments of the work of the country Sunday school. 

In the summer enlist the interest of the pupils in pre- 
paring and raising material for the special days of the fall 
and winter, in planting pop-corn for the Christmas cele- 
bration, geraniums, begonias, and other winter flowers, 
pumpkins, squashes, gourds, corn, and other vegetables 
for harvest-home and Thanksgiving decorations, storing 
"everlastings," ground pine, and laurel for winter use. 

Organize a nature-study club or clubs, according to ages, 
for study of plants, birds, insects, soils, and rocks. There 
may be contests with honors to those who can name and 
describe the greatest number of birds, flowers, insects, and 
medicinal or food plants native to that district. Biblical 
allusions to plants, birds, and flowers may be used. They 
may sketch, paint, photograph, or draw their collection. 
Nature magazines may be studied. 

A neighborhood Sunday school of thirty-two pupils and 
three teachers at Berlin, Maryland, has a record of min- 
istry and organizations which might well shame many a 
large school. Under the guidance of a woman leader the 
school has been graded, Bibles and Testaments given to all, 
and a mothers' class and a Home Department organized. 
It is a center for the community with library, magazines, 
biweekly sociables, valentine parties, fishpond parties, post- 
card, cobweb and peanut parties; a Christmas party, with 
tree and treat; an Easter party, with candy-egg hunt, an 
annual Cradle Roll party, a picnic, a monthly lecture, with 
rented slides (sometimes on Sunday evening when on 
Bible subjects), grafanola concerts (sometimes on Sunday 
evening when hymns and sacred music are given). New 
methods are studied and introduced. The school never 
closes. 

The members of a cowboy Sunday school, the Sykes 
Sunday School in Fallon County, Montana, came, some of 
them, a distance of thirty-five miles. The school is practi- 
cally the only uplifting force in the community. The 



360 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

special days, especially Christmas, bring large numbers. 
Forty is the average attendance. The school drills in the 
Bible books and contents and has a small teacher-training 
class. The session lasts for two hours. People bring 
their lunches and are in no hurry to leave. 

2. The village Sunday school. The problem of the 
village and small town, whose conditions change but little 
from year to year, is that of inertia, self-satisfaction, and 
lack of social life. The push of improvements and the 
greed of commercialism are bringing to many a village and 
town dangers to its moral and religious life through bad 
literature, doubtful amusements, and disregard of the Sab- 
bath, which must be met by the Sunday school with im- 
proved organization, increased interest, and a full regard 
for the school life of its young people. 

A complete census of the community should be made by 
the school or in conjunction with other schools, and a joint 
invitation given to Sunday-school membership. 

The adult class can here be made an important fac- 
tor. The organized class, in cooperation with the superin- 
tendent and pastor, should provide a gymnasium and read- 
ing and game room, baseball field, and tennis and croquet 
courts for the young people of the school, and build the 
young men of the community into the school through 
these things. A Sunday-school athletic association may be 
formed. On Sunday evenings entertainment and refresh- 
ments may be provided to keep these young people from 
the dances and village corners. If the class of motion 
pictures in the locality is bad, the organized classes should 
interest themselves in their improvement or in themselves 
providing a better class of pictures. A library should be 
started, and magazines and papers for young men sub- 
scribed for. 

A chorus and an orchestra of the young people can be 
made a helpful factor in the school and church service. 
The school should advertise itself regularly in the town 
paper through interesting school items, by invitations sent 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 361 

verbally to the community, through the rural mail carriers, 
and by the stage driver. Among opportunities of service 
open to the classes of the school would be to furnish read- 
ing matter to the shut-ins in the country round about and 
to the waiting room of the railroad station, and plans to 
provide summer homes for the sick or poor boys and girls 
of the city and to invite to the Sunday school city young 
people who are boarders in the village. A series of enter- 
tainments at the school or town hall should be planned to 
interest the school and attract the community. 

The organized adult Bible class can be made an impor- 
tant factor. In visiting a town in South Carolina the 
writer found in the Methodist Sunday school a few men in 
a corner of the room. A few months later he found that 
corner filled with men, including the presidents of the two 
banks of the place and the learned professional men and 
citizens. The class had organized. 

In a village of five hundred several classes of young men 
and adults, at the suggestion of the superintendent, se- 
cured a lease on an abandoned skating rink. This was 
converted for the winter into a gymnasium for basketball 
and other athletics three days a week, and proved a helpful 
adjunct to the school. 

In the town of Brock, Nebraska, with a population of 
450, the Christian Sunday School has an average attendance 
of 130. It is a live school, with a Cradle Roll room and class 
with rocking chairs for mothers and a general meeting 
room with two classrooms transformed into an eight-room 
building, a "Sisters of Ruth" intermediate class, a group 
of Camp Fire Girls, a Boy Scout troop, and classrooms 
equipped with pictures, pennants, and mottoes. Other 
features are a friendly-hand committee of welcome, one 
minute used each Sunday for latest missionary news, and 
a teacher-training class which completed a four years' 
course. 

In a suburb of Los Angeles a woman opened her place 
for a bungalow school for the many children thereabout, 



362 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

first as a primary class, then the beginners were given a 
room, next the juniors had a room, and the school of sixty- 
five filled all the rooms. Five teachers came from the city 
each Sunday afternoon, special days were observed, and 
up-to-date methods were employed. 

A remarkable village Sunday school at Battery Park, 
Virginia, has 121 members in a community of 150 and 119 
were present at one session. It is a rare thing for pupils 
to pass the Junior Department without a decision for 
Christ. Practically every member of the school is a mem- 
ber of the church. It is called the "school of excellence." 
Every department is represented. The school takes the 
banner offered by the county Sunday-school association for 
best county record. The superintendent is a student of 
Sunday-school books and magazines. 

The First Congregational Sunday School at Riceville, 
Iowa, makes much of class pennants and good advertising. 
The pennants are hung over the blackboard on which is 
the record of class and school attendance. The pennant of 
the class with best record is placed in special position. 
Even the beginners' class has a pennant. Interest centers 
on the classes: "The Sunshine Class," "Be Ye Kind," "The 
Live Wires," "The Anti Can'ts," "I. A. M." (Inasmuch), 
and "The Comrades." Advertising for Rally Day was 
through telegraph post cards, hand-lettered window cards, 
special matter in weekly paper, and small felt pennants as 
souvenirs. Automobiles brought distant members. A 
school invitation post card with names of officers is used 
for all occasions by school and classes. Glass sliding doors 
separate the Primary and Junior Departments and young 
people's class. 

A New England village school reached out three miles 
to a schoolhouse in a neglected community of over fifty 
children between five and eighteen. The neighborhood was 
thoroughly visited, seventy-five attended the first meeting, 
a Christian woman became superintendent, singers went 
out from the village church, parents were converted in a 



THE COUNTRY AND VILLAGE SCHOOL 363 

week of revival services, all of the country school came in 
conveyances to a concert in the village church, and the 
whole moral tone of the community was lifted to a higher 
level. 

In the village of Savonburg, Kansas, 250 population, the 
two Sunday schools have an average attendance of one 
hundred each. One of these schools went up from an aver- 
age of 61 to a total of 176 through a contest with a school 
in another place. One of the elements of success is a sur- 
prise feature each Sunday worked out by a special com- 
mittee of the school. 

One village school made Easter specially interesting 
through a Rally Week preceding Easter. Monday was 
Cradle Roll Day for the little ones and mothers. There 
were music and games, a little talk by the pastor to the 
mothers upon the meaning of Easter to them, a supper, and 
a social time. Tuesday brought primaries and juniors. A 
sand map of Jerusalem and the country thereabout was 
made the basis of a talk. An Easter supper followed. 
Wednesday was for the young people and Thursday for 
the adults. Friday was a day of prayer for the school at 
church and at home. On Saturday each member of the 
school was to invite someone outside the school to attend 
Easter Day. On Sunday each department of the school 
contributed its part. The beginners sang a flower song; 
the primary children recited the Easter story; the juniors, 
in questions and answers, gave briefly in Bible verses the 
events of Holy Week and Easter Day; the intermediates 
narrated the appearances of Christ after the resurrection 
and repeated the verses concerning the hour by the sea- 
shore. 

Bibliography 

The Sunday School in the Country, Paris. 

How to Run a Little Sunday School, Fergusson. 

The Rural Sunday School and the Teens,, Alexander, 



364 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Topic for Special Study 

The utilization of community improvements as builders 
of moral and religious life. 

Topics for Class Discussion 

1. What are the three objectives of the country Sunday 
school? 

2. What is the essential organization of a country school? 

3. How can the sessions be made attractive? 

4. Can a winter Sunday school be sustained, and how? 

5. Name a few methods of interest for the country Sun- 
day school. 

6. How can the village Sunday school assist the young 
men of the community and build up its membership? 

7. State methods actually used in building up the village 
school. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 

The school's upbuilding — its permanent upbuilding in 
numbers and strength — is not the result of a single effort, 
no matter how strenuous; it is the result of the focusing 
of a score of influences, having their mainspring usually 
in the superintendent, which have to do with the school's 
educational work, its atmosphere, its week-day life, and 
which reach out, through the superintendent, pastor, 
teacher, pupil, home, and the printed page, to every part 
of the community. 

One of the best business men of the country told the 
writer that he would prefer a 10-per-cent advance in his 
business yearly to a large, sudden increase, because of the 
greater certainty of the proper care of the growth; and his 
large body of salesmen, one of the best organized in the 
world, have that increase as their annual objective. How 
do men organize to secure new business? (1) By having 
goods that people want or else creating a desire for them. 
(2) By newspaper advertising. (3) By circularizing. (4) 
By pleasing the customer. (5) By having courteous ushers 
to direct people about. (6) By having polite clerks who 
know their business, know goods, prices, and the location 
of articles. (7) By having departments for the several 
lines of goods. (8) By special sales. (9) By making it 
easy for folks to come in and hard for them to go out with- 
out a purchase. It is not difficult to draw a parallel be- 
tween these methods and Sunday-school upbuilding. 

In this chapter we shall consider those traceable factors 
and methods which directly assist in school building. 

1. Incentives in building better and bigger schools. 
Bigness is not strength. It may be weakness if there are 

365 



366 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

not heart, muscle, and purpose. '"To gain through the bung 
and lose through the spigot" is poor business. Too many 
schools are carried away with the notion of bigness, for- 
getting that quality of work and the right goals in work 
are the big things. At the same time, with quality of work 
assured, "it is a sin," as Marion Lawrance says, "for a 
school to be smaller than it should be." Our drive should 
be for the last one in the community for the school and 
for Christ. 

The Philadelphia Sunday School Association carried 
through a campaign for "Better and Bigger Sunday 
Schools." The main goals for a better school were the 
organization of a committee on religious education in the 
church, 10 points; the organization of a new school depart- 
ment, 10 points; the appointment of a leader for young 
people's work in the school, 10 points; the organization of 
week-day religious instruction, 30 points; the organization 
of neighborhood visitation and survey, 20 points ; and the 
celebration of mother-and-daughter days, 20 points. "Big- 
ger" school goals included new enrollment, a higher per- 
centage of attendance in proportion to enrollment, on the 
part of pupils, officers, and teachers. 

The goal is the school's architectural plan. Each week, 
each month, and each year parts of that accepted plan 
must be built in. In other chapters, and, indeed, through- 
out the whole book, the school goal or goals have been 
suggested and elaborated. The writer has tried in these 
chapters to indicate the plans of the "better" school. In 
this chapter let us, in the main, think of the school's out- 
reach for new members. We are not losing sight in this 
of the school's greater goal — namely, winning all to Christ 
and training all for Christ, a school educationally efficient 
in business for the King seven days a week, serving the 
community and the world. 

2. The pastor's part. No school can be built up 
strongly if there is not cordial cooperation between the 
pastor and superintendent. If there happen to be differ- 






THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 367 

ences between the two, they should be kept out of sight 
for the sake of the work. A wise pastor will be in the 
Sunday school because it will yield the largest returns on 
the investment of his time and will help him to get close 
to his young people. 

A pastor with educational ideals, with any real sense of 
his responsibility, will not trust the molding of his flock 
to untrained hands without making some effort to assist 
in the selection and training of teachers. How can the 
pastor help upbuild the school? 

(1) On Sunday. — (a) By his presence in some part of 
the session, officially but not officiously, to speak a word of 
cheer and help to officers, teachers, and pupils as he can 
without hindering the work; and to pray, to review, and 
to assist as needed. (&) By teaching, if possible, a class 
of adults. Many pastors are doing this and find the work 
a joy and help, (c) By closing the church service on time 
where the Sunday-school session follows. (d) Through 
noting and suggesting coming workers as he discovers 
them, especially those between sixteen and thirty years of 
age. (e) By preaching a rousing sermon and then pledg- 
ing those present to membership in the Home Department, 
adult class, to teaching work, to a teacher-training class, or 
as helpers, and keeping at it until the goal is reached. 
(/) By seeing that the officers and teachers are installed 
in an appropriate service, (g) By noting items of school 
interest in the weekly church calendar or in his write-up 
of the church services for the local press. (7i) By assign- 
ing all new church members to some service or class in 
the Sunday school as the Bible-teaching service of the 
church, (i) By interesting the children and young people 
in church attendance on lines suggested in Chapter XXIII. 
(j) By a presentation to the school or to separate depart- 
ments or classes of the privilege of church membership 
on the Sunday before admission of members. 

(2) Through the week. — (a) The pastor should recog- 
nize his pupils by name as he meets them. (&) On his 



368 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

calls he may take blanks of Sunday-school enrollment, on 
which will be indicated Cradle Roll, adult class, teacher, 
helper, Home Department and other departments, and see 
that every member of the home receives a check against one 
of these indications; and, after a record has been made, that 
the cards are turned over to the superintendent, (c) He 
will feel the responsibility for training his teachers. He 
will know who of his teachers have not had the advantage 
of a teacher-training course and will see that all teachers re- 
ceive the literature of their denomination on this subject, 
and that they are enrolled as students in some one of the 
official denominational courses. (d) He will cooperate 
with the superintendent in inaugurating and carrying out 
a plan of neighborhood visitation, (e) He will make op- 
portunity for a half-hour weekly conference with his 
superintendent on school plans. 

3. The superintendent's week-day work. We have 
considered the superintendent's duties. How can he, at his 
desk, in his home, in the homes of his pupils, build up the 
school? The superintendent is the "man in the office." 
The Sunday school is a business. He must plan the work. 
His week-day work is the key of his real success. Busy 
business men who are superintendents know this and 
sacredly reserve certain week hours for the Sunday school. 
They know their schools cannot succeed any more than 
their business without adequate planning, conference, and 
review of results. 

(1) His desk outfit. — (a) A street card index of the 
pupils' homes for visitation and other use. (&) An alpha- 
betical index of the school, (c) A file cabinet, with drawer, 
boxes, scrapbook, or large envelopes for clippings, pro- 
grams, and references bearing upon all departments of 
Sunday-school work. A pair of scissors, some paste, copies 
of such magazines as The Church School and The Sunday 
School Journal will enable him to begin the work which 
will grow in value with the years. Material will be added 
from conventions, conferences, and addresses, talks with 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 369 

other superintendents, visitation of other schools, ideas 
and chapter references from books on the Sunday school. 
Some subject divisions from the writer's cabinet will sug- 
gest such file possibilities: "The Cradle Roll" (and all 
other of the regular school departments), "Missionary," 
"Temperance," "Decision Day" (and all other special days), 
"The Pastor and the Sunday School," "The Teacher," 
"Teachers' Meetings," "Training Class," "Secretary" (and 
other officers), "Promotions," "Music," "Program," "Sunday 
School," "Organizations," "Manual Work," "Supplemental 
Work," "Board of Sunday Schools," "International Sunday 
School Association," "World's Sunday School Association." 
(d) Superintendent's yearly record book, showing school at- 
tendance, offerings, names, and addresses of teachers and 
substitutes, names of pupils joining the church, new plans 
introduced, and any other items worth noting from a 
superintendent's standpoint, (e) A loose-leaf notebook for 
suggestions, important addresses, things to do, special days' 
plans, ideas worth noting, good hymns, people to see, sick 
to call on, teachers, speakers, and singers in view. Three 
pages in that book should be busy ones: ideas and plans as 
raw material; those in process of manufacture for dis- 
cussion by cabinet or teachers' board; those as finished 
product, ready for use. (/) A classified list of pupils with 
leadership capacity in any line of service, for use, after 
proper training, on school committees or as teachers or 
school officers, (g) A test form in which each department 
of the school is analyzed as to quality of work, covering 
comparison with other departments as to enrollment, sepa- 
rate exercises, adequate equipment, plenty of teachers, their 
adaptations, order, activities, teachers' regularity, offering 
average, loyalty, teamwork of officers and teachers, depart- 
mental meetings, class organization; social, devotional, and 
missionary provision; monthly gain or loss in enrollment; 
attendance, attraction for new members, and stimulating 
attendance. 

(2) With his pen. — A Monday-morning letter to an absent 



370 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

teacher, telling how much superintendent and class missed 
him; or to a discouraged teacher noting some good point 
in his work and suggesting a helpful plan. Letters to pros- 
pective teachers suggesting temporary or permanent serv- 
ice; to pupil or teacher in some sorrow-touched home; to 
a pupil regarding decision for Christ or life service, inclos- 
ing a leaflet and making an appointment; to a teacher with 
an earnest birthday message; to a nonattendant inviting 
to membership ; to pupils suggesting calls on a sick teacher, 
or vice versa. The superintendent will devise choice greet- 
ings and messages for Easter, Rally Day, Thanksgiving, 
and New Year for teachers, parents, and pupils. 

He will have list of new pupils, referring the new family 
to pastor or to the district visitor for call or report. A 
general stir-up letter may be written to teachers in a cam- 
paign for enrollment, for a Decision Day ingathering, for 
visitation of homes, for the workers' meeting. A depart- 
ment superintendent may need some written encouragement 
or book or suggestion, or the inclosure of some clipping of 
value for the department work. 

(3) In his home. — The superintendent should let it be 
known at what hours he will be at disposal of teacher or 
pupil and encourage calls on any matter of personal or 
class help. In this relation, as a friend, he will enter and 
help many a life. He should, in fact, seek for points of 
entrance. A young man who is starting down the swift 
road may be invited for a close talk and prayer. Another 
may be invited for a helpful talk looking to work as 
teacher, missionary, minister, or in some other profession. 
While there may be an employment-department superin- 
tendent, many young people will seek the superintendent's 
counsel and help as to their vocation. Such opportunities 
are to be coveted. 

Conferences will be scheduled at his home with depart- 
ment heads and committees. If a successful superinten- 
dent he will utilize and inspire others to the limit. 

(4) On the field. — His should be a familiar face in the 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 371 

community. He will be found in the home burdened with 
a fresh sorrow or entered by want. If his time permits — 
and an hour or two a day will accomplish wonders — 
nothing more profitable can be suggested than his visit, 
in regular order, to all the homes of the school. The street 
family index cards could be used in this. Names for 
Cradle Roll and Home Department, for new teachers, mem- 
bers of adult classes, and of young people not now attend- 
ing Sunday school, of new families near by unattached, will 
be gathered and, in a follow-up plan, with the cooperation 
of his associates, will be added to school and church mem- 
bership. Prayer and conference with the mother and 
father, if the call is an evening one, will attach them to 
the school, discover home facts to be communicated to the 
teacher, and may be the means of winning to Christ or of 
inaugurating family prayer in the home. 

This plan is not a theory. The writer utilized the hours 
after business in just this way, making about fifty calls 
a week, and with precisely these results, and it gave a 
leverage in the work of great value. The personal joy in 
the work is not the least of its compensations. 

4. Advertising the school. (1) Suggested plans. — 
The following plans may be suggested as methods of school 
advertising: (a) Through the use of the columns of the 
local newspaper each week in a brightly written contribu- 
tion, with catching paragraph captions, covering items of 
general social and local interest, quotations from prominent 
men regarding the Bible and the Sunday school to dignify 
the cause, explanation of the school departments and items 
of personal mention and of special interest in their con- 
duct, announcement of coming events in the school life 
such as special days, organized class items, the social- 
service activities of the school, notable speakers, orchestral 
attractions, and solo or special features of the Sunday pro- 
gram. Most newspapers will welcome such material, es- 
pecially if accompanied by photographs; the school mem- 
bership will read it, and the community will become aware 



372 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

that the school is a live factor. (b) By a paid attractive 
weekly newspaper advertisement, such as "Help Wanted: 
1,000 people," etc.; "For Rent: Large room, etc.; rent free 
to all applying," etc.; "Lost: an old-fashioned method of 
running a Sunday school," etc.; "For Sale: sixty minutes of 
time," etc. (c) Through the church calendar, with a space 
regularly occupied by school notes, these notes written in 
a newsy way. (d) By means of a school paper or news 
sheet issued monthly or quarterly, giving items of class, 
department, and school interest, names of new pupils, 
honor pupils, interesting selections, messages from the 
superintendent, and campaign plans. The cost can usually 
be covered through advertisements, but these should be 
sought on a business basis, (e) Through cards, folders, 
cartoons, or posters, utilizing display type and colored ink 
in emphasizing the general and special features of the 
work, and advertising coming campaigns and events; these 
to be addressed, where possible, and distributed to the 
community by the messenger corps or by selected helpers, 
and placed in store windows, hotels, and boarding houses. 
(/) By the use of a year book illustrated with class groups 
showing officers, organizations, regular and special events, 
and motto, (g) By such special methods as a Sunday- 
school blotting pad, or a foot rule, or a Sunday-school cal- 
endar (with the school and its services and attractions and 
special days of the year and the school's goals brightly 
set out), these to be distributed in the homes of the school 
and in the community, and posted in hotels, post office, 
railroad station, and public library, (h) By attractive, 
large bulletin-board posters on the exterior of the building, 
with some special weekly feature to attract continual no- 
tice, (i) By covered bulletin boards placed at street 
corners within a radius of two blocks of the church, an- 
nouncing on Saturday the Sunday items; or by "Take one" 
circulars. (j) Through tag "ads" tied loosely to door 
knobs. (k) Through a Sunday-school parade emphasiz- 
ing departmental features. (I) The business men of the 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 373 

school or schools of a community can usually secure sev- 
eral columns of free Sunday-school news space in the local 
paper by calling upon the editor and then arranging for 
sending in such news. In Cleveland schools sent such items 
weekly to the press on prepared forms. (m) Through 
posters on trolley cars, especially of any community Sun- 
day-school campaign or event, (n) Invite the community 
to a departmental Sunday-school exhibit, pageant, or song 
festival, (o) Keep a form book, under special captions, 
showing plans used by other schools, cut from leading 
Sunday-school periodicals, (p) Have a reference library 
of books on Christ, advertising for suggestions, (q) By 
the changeable-letter or movable-type signs furnished by 
Sunday-school supply houses, (r) Through the use of a 
blackboard on the exterior of the building, artistically ad- 
vertising a coming event, (s) Repeat postcards to a com- 
munity nonmembers list, every few weeks changing the 
form of presentation; then have personal calls made, (t) 
Offer a reward for the best posters advertising suggestions 
for a special day or for a membership drive, (u) Study 
methods of catching attention in present-day publicity. 
"You are cordially invited" never gets across, (v) Use a 
school slogan in all publicity, (w) Use a display window 
banner by some merchant for a special exhibit, such as for 
Children's Week, with attractive posters on the sides and 
back. 

(2) The publicity committee. — A review of these sug- 
gestions must impress one with the importance of a pub- 
licity or advertising committee to work with the superin- 
tendent in a campaign of school publicity. A business 
man, a young man with the advertising instinct, and a 
young woman with skill in designing or drawing should 
make a good committee. 

The committee should make a study of such books as 
Handbook of Church Advertising, Case; Church Publicity, 
Reisner; Publicity and Progress, Smith; and Principles of 
Successful Church Advertising, Stelzle. It should subscribe 



374 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

for The Church School (150 Fifth Avenue, New York City). 
It may study Chapter XXV in Sunday School Officers 1 
Manual, Brown. From this material a fine preparation for 
service should be made. 

The committee should compile a form book of best plans, 
under appropriate headings, as "Rally Day," "Easter," etc., 
for use as the opportunity arrives. 

In cooperation with the superintendent a six-months or a 
year's advertising campaign should be worked out and 
presented for discussion in the workers' conference. The 
general principle of such advertising should be the repe- 
tition of impression. Organized classes and departments 
should be asked to appoint someone to report weekly in 
writing items of interest for press, calendar, and local 
paper. The committee should be furnished with a mimeo- 
graph, multigraph, or some apparatus for duplicating. A 
good committee can greatly assist the school contacts with 
pupils and the home by suggesting attractive forms of 
birthday and other letters. 

5. The pupil's cooperation. (1) Contest plans. — 
These may occur between schools on matters of enroll- 
ment, new pupils, and attendance; between departments of 
the same school, between classes, or between sides or sexes 
in the school. Sometimes the contest plans apply to church 
attendance or lesson study. 

A popular form of such contest for new pupils is known 
as "the reds and the blues." This requires the choosing of 
captains, the wearing of colors or buttons by the respective 
sides, the appointment of a contest committee, a limitation 
of the time of the contest, and a treat at the close furnished 
by the school, the winners securing the choice end of the 
feast, and the losers plain refreshments. In many places 
such contests have substantially increased attendance and 
membership, and there has been the best of feeling. Great 
care should be exercised, however, that pupils are not 
taken from other schools. To do this comes dangerously 
near breaking the eighth commandment. There have been 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 375 

instances where other schools have been depleted by such 
contests, and hard feeling engendered. 

It is usual in such plans to announce the results from 
week to week by means of the blackboard or a large poster. 

Aids in developing friendly contests are: (a) Give a 
reward at the end of an announced period to each pupil 
bringing a new pupil. (&) Give a "Get One" ticket or a 
coupon to each contestant, successful names to be entered 
upon the blackboard, (c) Distribute picture postcards of 
church and school, with or without a special invitation 
printed thereon, for pupils or contestants to send to friends. 
(d) Have a visitors' day, ribbons to be worn by visitors: 
red if invited by boys, blue if invited by girls, (c) The Bap- 
tist Temple, Brooklyn, had a "builders" contest, the names 
of the classes and the number of new pupils brought in by 
each class being placed on an arch erected on the platform 
on Children's Day. In addition, the girl who had brought 
the largest number marched down the aisle with her five 
new members and, during the "Temple Builders Exercise," 
was crowned after words of commendation by the pastor. 
(/) Read C. D. Meigs's Red Book for a little ginger on the 
building up of Sunday schools. Large thermometers are 
useful as records of our new pupils' progress, (g) Con- 
tests between schools are popular on the basis of attendance 
and growth over an agreed period, with recognition by 
banner to the winning school and by ribbons for the best 
class records in growth and attendance: a blue ribbon to the 
class with the best record in either, a red ribbon to the 
second best, and a white to the third, and a gold ribbon to 
classes with a perfect attendance over the thirteen Sundays 
of the contest, (h) An efficiency contest between sides in 
the school in a thirteen-week competition on the following 
points: 50 points for a map of Palestine showing lesson 
locations; 25 points for learning a hymn, "Awake, My 
Soul"; 25 points for learning the twenty-third Psalm; 50 
points for learning the Ten Commandments; 30 points for 
"on time"; 20 points for church attendance. So enthusias- 



376 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

tic became the participants in one such contest that they 
asked for another similar contest the next quarter, (i) 
Regular attendance on one school was encouraged by a 
class-pennant contest, the class pennants being placed 
opposite the percentage figure earned for the previous Sun- 
day, with special recognition for a monthly, quarterly and 
yearly record. (j) The First Baptist Sunday School of 
Pomona, California, put on a departmental contest for de- 
partments above the Junior, covering attendance, 20 per 
cent; on time, 30 per cent; lesson study, 20 per cent; church 
attendance, 30 per cent. Additional credits were given for 
new members and visitors. Each department, too, recog- 
nized the best class record within the department. The 
contest ran for thirteen weeks. The average percentage for 
promptness was 90 as against 33 formerly; percentage of 
attendance to roll, 85; lesson study, 88 per cent; church at- 
tendance, 90 per cent, (k) In a contest for new members, 
Sunday-school and church attendance, promptness, memory 
work (for beginners and primary children), and offering, 
the First Baptist Sunday School of San Jose, California, 
ran its membership from five hundred to one thousand. 
Its rewards were Bibles, a conquest flag, and pennants. 
The young people undertook to make one thousand calls 
in ten weeks. A campaign song, "We Are Working for 
One Thousand," helped create enthusiasm. (I) An army- 
and-navy contest plan was adopted by one school, with the 
use of post cards and posters. Each week the "new re- 
cruits" and "new marines" were posted, (m) A small- 
town school arranged a ward contest, dividing the school 
membership into the four wards in which they resided, 
appointing ward captains, etc., and enlisting local ward 
spirit for new members, (n) Automobile contests among 
classes are frequent. Each class selects its make of auto. 
Cuts are secured of these, and the classes progress from 
point to point along some well-known local highway or 
across country to well-known cities, according to points for 
new members, for department or school, perfect class at- 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 377 

tendance, offering, and church attendance. This method 
can be individualized within a class, each boy having his 
make of auto and including as contest points memory work 
(such as the Bible alphabet, John 14, and the Beatitudes) 
and lesson study, (o) A Bible-baseball week-night contest 
was used in one school, captains and sides being chosen, 
and four questions asked of each pupil, he advancing to 
bases on a small indoor diamond, (p) A novel plan em- 
ployed by a Chatham, Illinois, school was a "speeder" con- 
test, classes being represented by a locomotive, submarine 
tank, airplane, automobile, motor cycle, etc., and advancing 
each week along wires according to points gained for new 
members, church attendance, etc. (q) Rather than spread 
the contest to cover many things a school found its best 
results in a one-point contest running for three months 
at a time, beginning the year with a contest for new mem- 
bers, then for attendance in the spring and early summer, 
then for contributions or raising money for special pur- 
poses, then for home study, (r) The one Sunday school 
at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, in a six-months contest with 
a Sunday school in another town, built its membership 
from 194 to 360, until practically everyone in the town was 
enrolled. The losing school gave a copy of "The Last 
Supper" to Wilbraham. An organized adult red-and-blue 
contest helped, so that 115 men were out, and on a stormy 
Sunday, (s) The Dexter Avenue Methodist Episcopal Sun- 
day School of Montgomery, Alabama, carried out a hot- 
weather, military, new-member contest, with a war council, 
red and blue battalions, in which all the school were 
placed. Officers wore sleeve bands indicating their rank. 
Each Sunday of the thirteen summer days was a special 
day: Fathers', temperance, Home Department, China, pa- 
triotic, Cradle Roll, peace, missionary, girls', boys', "Keep 
kool," and song service. A different class was responsible 
for each day. (t) The airship-contest flight (Goodenough 
and Woglom Company, New York City) is one of the best. 
Each class has its airship. The contest can include what- 



378 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

ever features are the objectives. The airship name is that 
of some Christian leader. The goals are world cities, with 
facts concerning them. The contest is educational and 
stimulating. (u) To guard against the after-Christmas 
slump a school on the first Sunday in January instituted 
a Washington's Birthday contest, the pupil having a per- 
fect-attendance record on the Sundays between being given 
a Washington button and a small flag, and the class with 
a perfect-attendance record a picture of Washington; the 
next best class receiving a flag, (v) Adult-class contests 
may run between different classes of approximately the 
same size, whether of men or women, or between equal 
divisions of the same class. A goal is usually fixed, mili- 
tary officers are appointed, and assignments of new-member 
objectives are made, (w) The Westminster Presbyterian 
Sunday School of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, worked a 
splendid plan of living pyramids. The school was divided 
into four divisions — Adult Bible Class, Senior, Interme- 
diate, and a fourth division of Junior, Primary, and Be- 
ginners. Each division had a commander and was repre- 
sented by a pyramid of gold or red or green or blue blocks. 
The background of the pyramid was blue. Each block 
represented a new member. Above each pyramid location 
were the number of the division, its commander, and its 
composition. The pyramids must be built to a certain goal 
height. To each one bringing in a new member a builders' 
certificate was given. The appeal was very effective, (x) 
The Central Baptist Sunday School of Kansas City prepared 
a large map of its surrounding territory divided into thirty- 
six sections of six blocks each. A manager was appointed 
for each division, and every pupil over sixteen was as- 
signed to a division. Two cards were given the visitors, 
one as an introduction and welcome card to the school, 
the other as a survey card, to report the family number, 
adults, boys, girls, babies for the Cradle Roll, etc., with a 
place for remarks. The visitation was made in the after- 
noons, and the results were very successful. 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 379 

(2) Other plans In most of these plans are suggested 

a goal and a reward within reach of all: (a) The recruit 
plan organizes the school into an army — "Soldiers of the 
Cross"— with a motto— "The World for Christ." Commis- 
sions are issued, and ribbon badges and stripes worn ac- 
cording to the number of new scholars brought in. One 
new pupil constitutes a contestant a private; for two a 
corporal's commission is given; for three a sergeant's; 
running up to a general's, requiring twelve or fifteen. A 
roll for the privates may be kept, and one for officers, the 
star opposite the officer's name indicating the rank. Tags 
may be given for each officer, one side indicating whether 
he is a private, a corporal, etc., and the other side indicat- 
ing the required number of new pupils for promotion. 
These tags are to be exchanged for others as the require- 
ments are met. (6) Ribbon badges may be given — a red 
ribbon for one new pupil, a white one for two, and a blue 
one for three, with a banquet to all. (c) Cards may be 
distributed to school for names, addresses, and ages of 
other members of family and friends not in any school. 
These names to be assorted and followed up by commit- 
tee or department heads or classes and reported on. A care- 
ful letter of invitation and school folder, with introduction 
card, should be sent to all new names by the school super- 
intendent, (d) Make up lists of young men and young 
women not in the Sunday school, arrange a number as a 
probable class, get a good teacher pledged to take them, 
and then see and persuade each one to become a member 
of that class. S. W. Neal, of Washington, Iowa, added one 
new class a week for a time on a similar plan, (e) The 
Central Christian Sunday School of San Antonio, Texas, 
has a "Five Hundred New Pupils' Club," 150 of the pupils 
pledging for work. Names of the 150 were plainly written 
upon a large canvas board, and gold stars were added to 
their names for each new pupil. (/) "Resolved, That we 
double the school in sixty days" was printed upon circular 
pieces of cardboard one foot in diameter and placed all 



380 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

about the school room by one school. The pupils wore small 
tags with the same words and sought to make good their 
resolution, (g) Department goals are helpful. Divide the 
school goal among the departments, so that each department 
shall know its share and work for it. (7i) Get lists of 
"prospects" from the church record — church members not 
now members of the Sunday school; from real-estate 
brokers of new families buying or moving in; from Y. M. 
C. A. or Y. W. C. A. secretaries; from social and other club 
lists; from marriage-license records; from students at 
business or other colleges and conservatories; from birth 
announcements; from public-school enrollment lists; from 
boarding houses; from business men's clubs; from the 
county assessor's list; from election-district lists; from au- 
tomobile-license lists, (i) Tags may be marked for the 
school with a few words of bright advertising, (j) Have 
the pastor get all the church and church organizations 
behind a new membership drive, assigning to each organ- 
ization its due share and responsibility for building up the 
Bible-study service of the church. Lists for such an effort 
may be obtained by giving out blank cards at a church 
service or from the lists named under "h" A Sunday- 
school membership month may be named for this. The 
plans should be well advertised in the church calendar, 
on a bulletin board, or in the local press, (k) Introduce 
new members each Sunday or once a month and welcome 
them with the school handclasp. In our school the hands 
are clasped over the head in token of welcome to new 
members or special visitors. School pins should be pinned 
upon those new members who can be called to the front. 
(I) After getting lists of non-Sunday-school adults in the 
community, send a letter appealing for their membership 
on the basis of the necessity of supporting a school of re- 
ligious education in the community for the sake of the 
homes of to-day and to-morrow and for the best citizenship, 
(m) A "Family Day" plan was adopted by one school. 
The superintendent asked first for pupils to raise hands 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 381 

where there was one member in the family not attending 
the Sunday school. Such names were noted upon the board. 
Then he asked where there were two now attending. The 
results showed a large number of new members. He then 
made each class responsible for bringing in, on Family 
Day, as many parents or visitors or new members as their 
class showed in the aggregate of non-family attendants. 
On Family Day credit was given opposite each class name 
for members or substitutes. Those who came as visitors 
were given special attention and assigned to classes where 
desired, (n) An Eskimo igloo was built by one school in 
the wintertime. A table was covered with cotton batting 
and sprinkled with snow powder. Against the wall was a 
sheet of sky-blue cardboard for a background. Bricks were 
covered with plain white paper. Each Sunday any class 
having brought in a new member sent a representative to 
the platform to add a block on which were inscribed the 
date, name of class, and name of new pupil. A reward was 
given to the class with the best record, (o) A tank plan 
for new members will take with the boys. Tank posters 
and post cards can be used. A certain number of "captives" 
(new members) can be named as the objective of each 
class. The class name can appear on the tank, and oppo- 
site it the class record, (p) Use a blue-button plan for 
those who bring in five members — for any school depart- 
ment. If desired, buttons of other colors may be used for 
a smaller or larger number. A blue-button service at the 
end of a six months' period or a year will recognize those 
who were successful, (q) Send a cordial letter of welcome 
to every new pupil and one of appreciation to the one in- 
troducing him. (r) A Christian service flag was dedicated 
in one school for a campaign of new members. At the top 
left-hand corner was the blue square with a red cross; on 
the right were the initials of the school in blue; and around 
all was a border of red. The names of classes were printed 
on heavy white paper and pasted on the flag below the cross. 
Opposite the names red stars were placed each Sunday for 



382 THE SUPERINTENDENT 

new members, (s) The Presbyterian Sunday School of 
Morris, Illinois, arranged a standing gold cross in the cen- 
ter of a field of white and against a round shield of blue. 
In crescent form below were placed the large department 
or class stars of different colors. Below these were placed 
smaller stars for new members. The Cradle Roll and Home 
Departments had their places. (t) A Booster Brigade 
may be built about the Andrew and Simon principle, a 
pupil wearing the Booster pin when he has qualified by 
bringing in one new pupil, (u) One superintendent ap- 
pointed his assistant to be attendance manager of the 
school. He prepared a map of the town, appointed a super- 
visor in each district to report each Sunday each new 
family that came into the district, with the name of the 
family, and names of adults, boys, girls, etc. The manager 
then turned these names over to the lookout committees 
of the classes or departments. He kept tab, through a card 
file, of the classes of those where attendance was dropping 
off, and at once went to the class to talk it over and plan 
for a recovery. He asked school members convenient to 
absentees to call and report, (v) The superintendent may 
take classes into his confidence, state the case frankly as 
to school or neighborhood, and ask classes to discuss their 
responsibility and advise him what share they will take 
in a new-member campaign. The classes and their accept- 
ance as to number may be posted, and the record of new 
members made against this each Sunday of the campaign. 
(w) Have a "pull-together" campaign, using a race goal, 
boat terms, and boat illustrations on cards and posters, the 
name of each class or department being shown on the 
boat, and progress indicated in realizing class or depart- 
ment membership objectives. 

(3) Special suggestions. — (a) A free monthly social or 
motion-picture or stereopticon or other entertainment for 
classes or pupils with perfect record for the preceding 
month. (&) A free honor-class banquet to classes with the 
best six months' record of attendance, others paying; 



THE SCHOOL'S UPBUILDING 383 

honor pennants to be awarded then. (c) A midwinter 
rally, a social evening, when reports of past campaigns 
may be made, and a new one projected, (d) Distribute 
special service card, with assignment to class or department 
of some specific service in building the school. Report a 
month later to school the progress of this service. 

After a membership campaign have a campaign of con- 
servation and an intensive drive looking to developing 
class and departmental activities; a school orchestra; so- 
cials for newly enrolled members for acquaintance and to 
inspire them for Christian service, to promote inner prayer 
circles for the winning to Christ and his service of every 
member of the class and department and school. For, 
after all, this is the final purpose of all contests and efforts 
— to draw every soul to Christ, to build up every soul in 
Christ, and to send out every soul for Christ. 

Bibliography 

Handbook of Church Advertising, Case. 

How to Advertise a Church, Elliott. 

Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School, Hurlbut. 

The Sunday School and the Pastor, Faris. 

Church Publicity, Reisner. 

Topic fob Special Study 
The permanent results of some actual contests. 

Topics fob Class Discussion 

1. Name several ways in which the pastor can aid in 
school upbuilding. 

2. How can the superintendent help at home? 

3. How can he assist on the field? 

4. What methods can be used in school advertising? 

5. Name several of best contest plans. 

6. What methods can be used to secure lists of non- 
Sunday-school attendants in the community? 

t. How can the pupil be used as a school builder? 



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